Since my Fellowship in 1979, I have enjoyed a long career in social work and academia, inspired by my Fellowship studying older persons' services in the USA.

Currently I am a principal lecturer at the University of Worcester and Chair of the Worcestershire Branch of the British Association of Social Workers. I am also a member of ACE Regional Adoption Agency and have chaired fostering panels.

My Fellowship was particularly illuminative in terms of older people being dynamic rather than passive contributors to society. Services such as 'foster grandparents' were radical at the time (and still are). This was my first experience also of the political power of older people, my meeting with the 'Gray Panthers' being similarly radical and inspiring. The Fellowship also underlined to me the value of the NHS, the USA even now having no such safety net for the disadvantaged and the poor.

Much of my subsequent career involved running services with older people and valuing the voices of lived experience. I currently facilitate a service users and carers' group at the University of Worcester, which has also led to national research projects, all inspired by my Fellowship experiences.