The Burnside Hotel reverberated to the sounds of old friends getting together again when the Recycled Teenagers held a friendship lunch at the hotel at the beginning of June.

The Recycled Teenagers – formed more than a decade ago by locals (and LEAP Trustees) Isabel Banks MBE, Jim Cunningham and Gilly Feron – had been in “cold storage” for more than two years when lockdown started and, as soon as restrictions were lifted, took the chance to get together again.

Thanks to funding from VASLan’s Community Mental Health and Welfare Fund, the Teenagers were able to lay on a lunch for current members and invite along friends and supporters to help boost their membership.

Gilly Feron said: “ VASLan’s fund was set up to help get older people back into the community and having a Recycled Teenagers friendship lunch was a perfect way of doing this.

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“The money allowed us to lay on a lunch and have a murder mystery event for everyone to join in. Almost 150 people attended and from what they said, everyone had a great time.

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“It also offered the opportunity for everyone there to find out more about what services were available in their community, especially through our friends at LEAP, who had information available on the day.

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“We are also grateful for the support of the LEAP staff who pitched in to help organise the day, and we were glad they were able to be part of the event.”

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The group is now looking to restart its activities and is also looking for new members to join the ranks.

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“Anyone over the age of 50 is welcome,” Gilly said, “and we would love to get some new members along to join in the fun.

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“We don’t take ourselves too seriously and get together for local outings and weekends away.”

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To find out more about Recycled Teenagers you can contact Gilly, Isobel or Jim through the LEAP office on 0141 641 5169.