Catherine Hennessy is Deputy Director of the UK National Collaboration on Ageing Research (NCAR) and the ESRC Growing Older Programme, based at the University of Sheffield. She is an experienced author and editor who has worked mainly in the US. Alan Walker is Professor of Social Policy at the University of Sheffield, Director of the 33.5 million ESRC Growing Older Programme, and Director of the UK National Collaboration on Ageing Research. He is also Research Director for the Social Sciences Division in Sheffield University and is an experienced writer. He has published three previous books with Open University Press - Changing Services for Older People (1996), Ageing Europe (1996) and The Politics of Old Age in Europe (1999).