In reply to UKC News:
As someone who started out in my 40s - 3 yrs in to climbing and I already owe my elders a great deal. An extremely knowledgeable 74yr old turns out each week to belay me (does this for others too!), he is unceasingly encouraging and has allowed me an enormous amount of time to tackle leading despite my being nervous. He's belayed me for 2 hrs + each week for over a yr so far. Mike doesn't climb any more though.
I'm really lucky that the local wall attracts older climbers, not sure if all of those I feel I owe would welcome a mention in this context but I've benefited more than I could ever really add up. One older climber was someone I'd admired for their style from when I first started, 3 weeks ago he praised my technical ability - which blew me over more than winning the old ducks bouldering!
Enough mush! The world's a better place and I wouldn't want to have a wall without a strong old guard to make it complete.