This paper reports on a longitudinal study of old people over the age of sixty-five living in rural Wales. Particular attention is paid to those who were over eighty in 1983, compared with the 1979 over-eighties. Whilst the findings demonstrate increased inputs of statutory domiciliary support with increased dependency, such support is clearly supplementary to the role of informal services. The paper shows that despite increased levels of dependency amongst the old elderly, levels of domiciliary services have not kept pace. Rationing mechanisms appear to focus services on the over-eighty-fives so that levels of support to younger age groups are essentially reduced.

This study analyses cohort changes in attitudes about sexual morality over the period 1972–1982. The attitudes of the older cohorts are significantly less permissive than those of the younger cohorts, but there is no evidence of a conservative shift. Further, the attitudinal stability displayed by the older cohorts might be construed as indicating rigidity or inflexibility were it not for the fact that the younger cohorts also display the same stable patterns.

In many urban communities the fastest-growing groups of old people are those from the various minority racial and ethnic groups. This paper reviews the progress of a range of the new services, clubs and social centres which have been recently developed to meet the needs of the minorities. The services are examined in terms of their objectives, degree of specialisation (by ethnic group, gender and age) and adequacy of resources. As most of these projects have been initiated by voluntary groups and have experienced difficult development problems, the implications of this pattern of growth are assessed. In particular, reasons for the lack of sustained support from government and statutory organisations are discussed. Racial disadvantage affects all the minority groups, though different ethnic groups appear to be developing different strategies for the care of the old. However, prospects for either fully developed alternative services for the minorities or for multicultural services appear to be bleak in the forseeable future.