the numerically largest group , consisting of male weekly wage-earners up to chargehand level and in the works only , excluding the offices , was therefore selected . a detailed age-structure was compiled from personnel department records , revealing that there were ( at that time ) seventeen men seventy years of age or older , thirty-three aged sixty-four years , and sixty-five just fifty years of age . a small panel was formed , not on a formally representative basis but rather of energetic and concerned individuals , from various levels in the firm . in due course the panel decided to seek further insight into the problems faced by older workers , and approached those seventy years of age or older . interviews with about half these men quickly convinced the panel that any approach at sixty-four - which had been considered as a possible interim stage in the project - was unlikely to be profitable , and a decision was taken to plan a scheme of preparation for retirement suitable for men who had just reached the age of fifty . all this took much longer than most people had expected , and it must be taken for granted by anyone wishing to plan and launch schemes of this kind in large industrial undertakings that undue haste will but court disaster . in June , 1958 , after careful preliminary work explaining the task of the panel to departmental managers , supervisors and shop stewards , an individual invitation was sent to each of the seventy-three men who reached the age of fifty years in 1958 . following the interviews to which reference has already been made , a meeting took place at which those attending were told more fully about the proposed course and were given the general results of the interviews in which they had taken part . thirty-three of the forty-four men interviewed attended this meeting , and twenty-nine signed-on for the first course . this was planned by the writer in co-operation with the panel and in consultation with Mr R P B Davies , then west midlands district Secretary of the workers educational association , and naturally owes much to the American schemes described earlier . it differs principally in being shorter ( six sessions plus a short weekend gathering to which wives are invited ) ; in using the services of experienced tutors in adult education as discussion group leaders ; and in having available at the relevant meeting expert consultants for physical health , mental health and financial planning . the Rubery , Owen scheme is now in its fourth year , and opportunity has been taken to revise the course in the light of experience . topics for the six weekly meetings of one-and-a-half hours ( each held half in company time , half in the man &apos;s time ) are now as follows : 1 . personal adjustment . 2 . health . 3 . work and leisure . 4 . living arrangements . 5 . financial planning . 6 . final discussion . the weekend conference for the men and their wives , which takes place at company expense in a country or resort hotel , includes an address on the woman &apos;s point of view and one on making the most of health . separate discussions are arranged for the wives in addition to the plenary sessions . of the men reaching fifty years of age since the scheme started , 125 ( 37.2 per cent ) have taken part . no pressure of any kind is brought to bear on those who decline the invitation . one result of the first course was the formation by the men themselves of the half-century club , membership of which is open to any man in the company fifty years of age or older ( and their wives ) whether he has passed through the scheme or not . at the end of the second course , a request was received from members of the salaried staff that they should be included in the scheme , and this was gladly agreed to . the third course produced a request by the men for an evening class in home repairs and decorating , and this was arranged at a local evening institute . the original scheme was planned to provide short refresher courses at the ages of fifty-five and sixty : the first of these is due in 1963 . meanwhile , each graduate is encouraged to seek help and advice in working out his ideas , either through the company &apos;s personnel department or by an approach to members of the panel responsible for the scheme . the latter do not regard themselves as expert advisers , but are prepared to seek out the appropriate sources of information or advice . the Glasgow day release scheme . towards the end of 1956 , Mr Daniel Grant , an employee relations Officer of Rolls-Royce Ltd and a member of the workers &apos; educational association , submitted to the lord provost of Glasgow , Dr Andrew Hood , a copy of his report on an enquiry he had made into the problems that beset older workers and the effects of retirement upon them . the lord provost , having studied the report on the morale and health of retired workers , and being satisfied that the matters raised were of considerable importance to the citizens of Glasgow and warranted further study , set an informal committee representative of bodies particularly concerned with the welfare of older people to examine the report and its implications and to consider the advisability of arranging a conference on preparation for and occupational activities on retirement . the large attendance and atmosphere of this conference , held in October , 1957 , reflected not only an increasing awareness of the problems of men and women nearing or already in retirement but also a strong desire on the part of all concerned for concerted action towards preparing men and women for life in retirement and more adequate provision of facilities for crafts , hobbies and leisure-time interests for those who are retired . as a result , the Glasgow retirement council came into being in April , 1958 , with Dr Andrew Hood as chairman and Mr Andrew Atkinson as secretary . the council has active committees on education and preparation for retirement , and on occupational centres . the former consists of representatives from the Glasgow corporation further education department ; the workers &apos; educational association ; the University extra-mural education committee and departments of psychology , education and social science ; the trades unions ; and the regional hospital board , together with an industrial medical officer and a medical Officer of health . in 1959 it was suggested by Mr T M Banks , assistant Director of education for Glasgow , that industrial firms might be ready to let older employees attend day-release courses on preparation for retirement , their wages paid for the time thus spent . an approach was made to about twenty large firms and in October , 1959 , the first experimental day-release course for men was organised . eleven students from seven firms attended a course on six full Fridays and it was made clear both to the men and their employers that the venture was an experiment from which the organisers hoped to learn as much as the participants . alterations are continually being made in the light of experience and the seventh course is still described as experimental . these courses take place at Langside College in a house , separate from the main building , which has a comfortable classroom and two good upstairs lounges . each course starts with an informal evening meeting when the men , drawn from different firms , can get to know something of one another and of the tutors before the opening session on the morning of the first of the seven consecutive full-day Friday meetings . forenoon sessions are from 9.30 a.m to 12.45 p.m with a coffee-break at 11 a.m . lunch is provided at a charge of 2 s 4 d . afternoon sessions last from 1.50 to 5 p.m , with an afternoon tea-break of 15 minutes at 3 p.m . the programme is as follows : tutors - most of them members of the Glasgow retirement council - give their services voluntarily . ninety-five men from twenty-one firms have so far taken part ; there is no doubt that the men enjoy the courses and are most appreciative of them . they learn much , factually , about the problems of retirement and provision for old age , and , psychologically , in the sharing of their thoughts on retirement . they express themselves as feeling better equipped to confront and plan for their retirement and , if some are still pessimistic regarding the future , it is with an informed pessimism . they are unanimous in their expressed concern that many others working beside them at the same stage in their careers should be given opportunity to benefit similarly from further courses which they strongly recommend should be arranged by the council . the Glasgow courses described above have been for men only . but seven women of the staff and supervisory grade from six firms have this year ( 1961 ) taken part in an experimental day-release course for women arranged by the council at Langside College of a duration and along lines similar to the above . morning sessions were unaltered but afternoon subjects included do-it-yourself , home-craft , home cookery , and details of women &apos;s organisations , providing opportunities for voluntary social service , in place of crafts , hobbies , art , drama and music . the city literary institute . on the initiative of the Principal , Mr H A Jones , this well-known London county council institute has recently started to offer day-release courses in preparation for retirement , following an encouraging experiment with members of the Unilever pensioners welfare organisation . several London firms have co-operated by releasing men and women aged fifty-five and over , both staff and hourly-paid workers . different courses for different kinds of people . when describing the Michigan , Chicago and recent British approaches to the problem of preparing employed men and women for their eventual retirement , some reference has in each case been made to the social , educational or intellectual status of those for whom each scheme is designed . although it seems reasonable to assume that the problems of retirement , and the ways in which these can largely be solved in advance , will differ in terms of such variables , very little is known on the matter . one useful attempt to remedy this important gap in our knowledge was made by Burgess and his colleagues in Chicago . they sought answers to three questions : 1 . are there differences in adjustment to ageing and retirement according to the occupational level of employees ? 2 . if so , which occupational levels are the better or the poorer prepared for successful adjustment to retirement and in what aspects ? 3 . does the evidence obtained support a rationale for adapting a pre-retirement planning and preparation programme to the needs of older employees of different occupational levels ? three hundred older employees of the Standard oil company of Indiana provided answers to a retirement planning inventory containing 100 items - statements with which the person responding is asked to indicate his agreement or disagreement , designed by Burgess and Mack . these items in fact comprise twelve groups , eight consisting of ten items each , all dealing with retirement planning and preparation , and a further two of ten items each , both dealing with more general personal adjustment . in addition , there are four category scores which combine the same 100 items in a different way , providing more broadly-based areas for assessment . the 300 employees comprised twenty-four managers , eighty-four supervisory and professional &amp;sol; technical staff , and 184 manual workers of all grades . Burgess found that in general the higher the group &apos;s occupational status , the greater is its ( apparent ) adjustment to ( the prospect of ) ageing and retirement . ( it is probably desirable to insert the words in parenthesis , having regard to the limitations of the questionnaire method of enquiry . ) the investigators go on to suggest , from detailed analysis of the responses obtained , that the problem for the manual worker does not centre on his conception of old age , but rather on how he interprets its meaning for his own future life . this conclusion is based on differences between the manual workers group and the other two groups in categories of questions covering later maturity and retirement attitudes , and in the broadly-based area of social adjustment . Burgess and his colleagues therefore advise retirement planning programmes to divide into at least two separate units : one to treat the needs of the non-manual upper-level occupational groups who , on the whole , seem well-adjusted to old-age but require a medium through which to reinterpret and assimilate their knowledge and attitudes ; and another for the manual lower-level occupational status who , although conceiving of retirement in an appropriate manner , can not find within the boundaries of old age the promise of a meaningful and well-rounded life . 