I am becoming more and more incensed by advertisements asking for individuals to become Justices of the Peace - providing they are less than 65.

It would be interesting to learn people's views on what exactly happens to a perfectly fit, healthy, active and intelligent individual when he or she crossed that magic boundary.

Do they suddenly lose all their accumulated wisdom, experience, sense of duty and the faculties that have successfully carried them through the years they have attained?

It is my understanding that the Government, whose older members admittedly appear to have lost those qualities mentioned above, was committed to dispensing with ageism.

The accumulated knowledge and experience gained in senior management over the past 50-odd years in various high profile companies must, in my opinion, provide the very qualities required.

In this respect I cannot be alone.

As a matter of personal pride and to prove a point, my first novel has been published at the outrageous age of 71.

I have learned to read music and play keyboards and take a great interest in the changing attitudes in the world today.

Sorry, I forgot - none of these things counts the day after you reach 65.

-Roy H. Cornwell, Shoreham