A walk through town prompts Gordon Hunter to think about the changing demographic of today's workforce.

As I trotted down to our bank (in rural Lincolnshire) last week and noticed several oldsters of a particular local style:  male, over 70, ear piercings, tattoos, long grey hair, one with a plaited beard and a faded Pink Floyd T-shirt.  It occurred to me that, in the old days (45 years ago when I did my first work experience placement as a personnel clerk in Aspro-Nicholas, Slough) these people would be lining the walls of fusty rest homes or propping up the daisies.

It also occurred to me that I should get my hair cut and throw away my bellbottoms.

It's not surprising that the streets are full of ageing bikers and that (some) charity offices are home to antique directors.  After all, UK men lived, on average, less than 70 years in the 1960s (compared with 83 now); most of my father's chums retired at 65 and expired within three years. Nowadays retirement is a flexible destination.

I feel a little guilty that I'm enjoying a challenging and varied job while so many young people struggle:  nearly one million 16 to 24-year-olds out of work compared to one million over-65s gainfully employed.

We do our best, here at the Foundation, to make a difference, providing volunteer mentors and grants and loans to help young people access training, work and business start-ups.  I think we’ve got our priorities right – a propos of which:

I was slumming in Waitrose at the weekend and spotted its three charity token silos (you put your green token into one of three Perspex boxes as you leave the store – usually several hundred pounds lighter).  The good folk of Newark had voted overwhelmingly for stray dogs, above older people, with the youth project a distant third.