OFTEN, when I sit in my chair at home, I remember when I was a child in the late 1940s.

I can remember the togetherness and the camaraderie we had in those peaceful and happy days. When a neighbour was ill, friendly neighbours gathered round and often gave 24-hour support. Our neighbours sometimes did the cooking, washing, and shopping.

Sadly, today I find many elderly people do not get the support that my parents gave when I was a child. Without that camaraderie and comradeship, many elderly people are shuttled into a private care home which can be very costly.

Some weeks ago I met a former neighbour. She told me she had to put her husband in a care home and because of her loneliness she had left her council accommodation to live with her brother.

Because she had moved in with her brother, the care home had taken most of her life savings and her husband’s pensions. She was left with only just over £66-aweek to live on, which I found scandalous.

I was a miner who received redundancy money from Easington Colliery in 1988.

I have always been a steady sailor as far as money is concerned since my retirement, but if I had to go in a care home in the near future my family would lose their inheritance.

I cannot blame the miners who spent their redundancy in the betting shop and on cigarettes, beer and expensive holidays.

Now they find that their bank balance is zero their accommodation is paid for in a care home. There is a old saying: the rich get richer, and the poor end up with nothing.

Jimmy Taylor, Coxhoe.