This week, I bumped into several people I worked with as a volunteer some years ago.

Of course, it was great to catch up on the news and to see them again but I was saddened to hear that the organisations they are still involved with are struggling for volunteers.

Back in the day, youth organisations were well supported, numbers were up and volunteers were happily working with young people to provide all sorts of fun activities.

Sadly, numbers are now down and volunteers are so few and far between that some organisations are at risk of closure.

So you can imagine my surprise when I was told by members of one organisation that its governing body is insisting volunteers retire at the age of 65.

Given that the government has just raised the retirement age for many of the working population to 68, this makes no sense to me whatsoever.

I can understand they don’t want volunteers who struggle to move with the times and are maybe not as fit and healthy as they once were but, to me, that is more about managing resources better.

If the rule remains, there will be no volunteers to take over the running of local organisations, so surely they have to look at this again?

A recent study showed that volunteers are vital to the strength of Scottish society, with their work valued at £2.6 billion every year.

Just imagine for a moment if the current volunteers decided to call it a day. Where would those teenagers go?

As a volunteer, you can meet different kinds of people and make new friends. You can be part of a community.

Do you remember the feel-good factor that volunteers created at the 2012 Olympics in London and the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow?

By volunteering, you could create that feeling locally.

And, guess what, you can have fun at the same time.