One of the features of the Indie Ref vote was the claim that many pensioners voted No because of fears over the safety of their pensions or because they had lived most of their lives believing in the British state and were unable to contemplate breaking away from what they perceived as the proper order of things. However, not every OAP voted No. Here’s an account from one of our more senior contributors who voted Yes, explaining her reasons:

When my youngest grandson first asked me what I thought about the referendum and how I would vote, I realised that I did not know enough about it to give him an answer. For that reason I set about learning as much as I could, reading everything I could find and listening to as many different arguments as possible. To say I got confused would be an understatement; one 'expert' would say this, another 'expert' would say that. If they couldn't agree, what chance did I, and many others like me, have?

Then, one day, I heard on the 7 am news that something (the instance is irrelevant) would happen, followed on the 8 am news that it could happen and then by 9 am it might happen, bells started ringing in my head. I used the internet, where most company reports and statements, political or not, can be checked, and looked up what had actually been said, only to discover that the radio news had considerably exaggerated it. From then on, that is what I kept doing. I stopped taking for granted what is printed in the newspapers or reported on radio and television. It is astounding just what a different slant is put on affairs when a word is missed out or a statement is taken out of context.

That is when I decided to vote Yes. Why? Various reasons. I am appalled that, having established that Scotland is one of the richest nations in the world, we have so many Scots living in poverty; the number of children going hungry is a disgrace. We must be the only oil-rich country whose citizens are poor. Before anyone brings up the argument that rUK also has poverty let me say that I sympathise strongly but I don't have the means to do anything about that. By voting Yes, I would have had the chance to elect a government of my choice, with the promise of a written constitution, which the UK does not have. For years Scottish MPs, by weight of numbers, have been out-voted on major issues from Trident, the Poll Tax, 'Bedroom' Tax, Benefit cuts, etc., etc., and even going to war. Having a written constitution means that if the electorate is not happy with their politicians, they can throw them out. Unacceptable behaviour and scandals, expenses or not, could be curbed.

I read the White paper but I also read the McCrone Report as well as Calman. The White Paper quoted lots of figures but I discarded all the predictions. Good housekeeping means this has to be done but nobody can predict the future with any certainty. The other figures can be verified if you take the time to look them up. McCrone and Calman filled me with dismay at their findings but persuaded me on how to vote.

Westminster has been lying to us for years. They continued to do so throughout the campaign, which baffled me. I wondered why they continued to reiterate false figures even when the authors of those findings stated that they had been altered. Surely they knew that, nowadays, facts can easily be checked. What I soon realised was that many people of my generation either had no internet access to check things for themselves or they simply would not listen to anything that contradicted the official news reports. I tried my best to argue with them and to point out that what they were being told was untrue but many of them refused to listen. One woman even accused me of "Wanting to destroy the Empire". I could not believe it!

As for my own reasons for voting yes, these are many and varied. Here are a few of them. I hope that, now that the referendum is past, some of the people I failed to convince might read them and perhaps realise that they may have made the wrong decision.

The National Health Service in Scotland has always been separate from rUK's but I am alarmed at the privatisation taking place south of the border. Health Trusts are being set up and it has reached the stage where the Minister of Health is no longer in charge. This will result in a cut in the health budget for the whole of the UK, which means a reduction in Scotland’s share. Our NHS may not be perfect but it does a wonderful job under difficult circumstances. By having full control over our own affairs we would have been able to preserve our cancer care, free prescriptions, eye tests, etc., not to mention the separate issue of free education and pensioners' care and travel. My husband, an Englishman, was a disabled serviceman who received great care from the Health Service when he was alive, but little or nothing from social services. I'd hate to see the same disintegration this side of the border. Another great cause for concern is the introduction of TTIP. Not only could this lose control of our health services but outside firms concerned will be given rights to sue us if they think they have lost revenue if we don't implement their proposals. It is already happening in other countries, Australia included. Look it up!

I am against Trident and want to see it removed from the Clyde. Placing it 20-odd miles from Glasgow, our largest city, was contentious in the first place. Apart from the devastation one mishap would cause here, there have already been lots of rarely reported leaks. Thankfully, nobody has been badly infected – or so we are told. I would like it banned altogether, along with the nuclear subs at Rosyth. A report from the Ministry of Defence confirmed that:

'old nuclear submarines will be cut up in Devonport. But fears that Plymouth

could become the UK's nuclear graveyard have been eased. Defence Minister

Philip Dunne said that submarine dismantling WOULD BE TESTED IN

ROSYTH in Scotland. IF THE PROCESS WORKS, the remainder of the

UK's retired nuclear fleet will be cut up in both Plymouth and Rosyth'.

Before that, however, they have to find a dumping ground for the nuclear waste. Please don't let that be Chapelcross in Dumfriesshire, as has already been short-listed, or elsewhere in Scotland for that matter. Before the vote, an MoD spokeswoman said:

'We are not developing contingency plans for the submarine dismantling project

because we are confident that the Scottish people will vote to remain part of the UK'.

No worries for Westminster then! Only two, France and the US, of our allied nations have nuclear deterrents and that total number could remain the same if the rUK wants to retain them, but I hope they don't. Helensburgh, once a lovely and thriving community, is now a shadow of its former self with boarded up shops and little employment. Property prices have fallen drastically. It's said that most of the workers at Faslane commute in and out of the area, giving little benefit to the community. Holyrood's proposal to set up a military base there could have brought prosperity back to the town.

Scotland was constantly told that the oil is running out. Basically that is true. No source is finite. However, discarding all the scare stories and news reports from the Better Together campaign, if you checked on what the oil companies were doing and investing, it was obvious that there is still a lot of oil there so it was no surprise when the BBC reported new oil discoveries just after the referendum vote. An independent Scotland would still have had time to set up an oil fund to support us when the end does come. I have a pension but would like to think that my grandchildren and great-grandchildren could have a better future than promised at present by the UK.

Of the oil-rich countries, only Scotland and Iraq lack an oil fund. Oil research off the Clyde was banned because of the nuclear submarines based there. What lies off our West coast?

Too wee, too poor, too stupid! Lack of size doesn't appear to restrict countries like Denmark, Sweden and New Zealand and other smaller countries, even without the backing of oil and gas, so what's to stop us? Too poor? Not according to independent analyses which show Scotland to be one of the richest countries in the world. We have contributed more tax per head of population than any other part of the UK, apart from London, for the last 30 years. Although we are only allowed to keep 7% of the tax raised. Even David Cameron and other politicians say Scotland is more than able to 'go it alone'. If the leader of the 'opposition' says so, who are we to argue! Too stupid – ahh! I am tempted here to say that the only stupidity was to vote No but that would be facetious. A recent survey showed that the Scots came out top of the poll for education, and not just in the UK. Our universities are among the top 100 in the world. Scotland is renowned for producing scientists, inventors, architects, engineers, entrepreneurs - even politicians (of all kinds). I'd like to give our children the chance to follow suit and enable them to stay in Scotland, if they choose to do so, instead of having to leave to find employment.

I remember a time when Scotland was a hive of industry; steel, ship-building, car manufacture, fisheries, printing, cotton and thread mills, not to mention mining and various other smaller industries. Times change and nothing stands still but why have all of these all but disappeared? Good management would have ensured that some employment would have been left. In the street where I grew up, I don't remember anyone being unemployed, apart from the old, infirm or ailing. Apprenticeships were available for school-leavers but they disappeared, too. To give the Scottish Government its due, they now have a scheme to re-start this initiative. Better Together, I don't think so.

Wanting independence doesn't mean being anti-English. I abhor the vicious comments and attacks made, on both sides. I lived and worked in England for many years and quickly realised that we were two different cultures. That's not to say one culture is superior to the other, although we usually tend to think our own is best. I made many and dear friends during that time, but although I have visited lots of other countries around the world, from Australia, New Zealand, America, Thailand, Iceland and throughout Europe, the only racism I ever encountered was in England. I hasten to add that I do not condemn the whole nation because of a few ignorant people. We have them here in Scotland and I would hope that we are not all tarred with the same brush. Nobody needs people like these.

I have never belonged to a political party and don't see myself ever joining one; they all have things I don't agree with. I have to make the best choice I can when voting. One party I definitely do NOT agree with is UKIP. I am deeply worried that, having voted No in September, we will be saddled with a UKIP coalition government in Westminster. The latest polling results in rUK showed a big swing in their direction. Again our Scottish representatives would be out-voted at every turn. I don't want that – especially by UKIP.

UKIP reminds me of the EU. We were constantly told that Scotland would not be allowed, or it would have taken years, to join the EU. 'Stay with us and remain as a member', we were told, but the next minute we heard that there will be a referendum to decide whether or not the UK stays as a member. Was a No vote a guarantee or not?

At the moment the use of Food Banks has risen dramatically, benefit cuts are having a disastrous effect on our communities, zero-hour contracts constrict growth especially for our young people, all they do is cut unemployment numbers; incapacity benefits are being cut, too. It is scandalous that nearly one million people in Scotland are living in poverty. As Adam Smith said, "No society can surely be flourishing and happy of which by far the greater part of the numbers are poor and miserable." Yet Westminster has told us that they have already drawn up another raft of cuts to come, far more than those already in place. Where will it end? Surely we could have managed our resources in a better way. We shouldn't have to rely on hand-outs, be they monetary or nuclear waste, before we make decisions. What we pay for Trident alone could help feed our hungry, build and heat our homes, educate our children, take care of our pensioners, the disabled and disadvantaged. I don't want a 'voice at the top table' I want one in my own country.

I don't for one moment think that voting Yes would have brought an end to all our troubles in one fell swoop. The working classes would still have to work.

We'd still have thought in one pounds, five, ten and, hopefully, twenty pounds and not the millions, billions and trillions, that were thrown at us in arguments from all sides during the campaign. That is, of course, if we had still called them pounds. Does it matter what they are called? Scotland wouldn’t have disappeared off the face of the earth if we’d given our money another name. Businesses would not have deserted us altogether. Business, by definition, means making money where it can be made. Scotland's resources say it can be made here in abundance.

The big thing that seemed to frighten many people of my generation was uncertainty about the future in an independent Scotland. There would have been many uncertainties, certainly, but from an octogenarian's point of view, nothing has been certain in my entire life. I was brought up to be independent and make my own decisions; my mistakes are my own mistakes but, at least, I was able to make decisions without relying on the consent of someone else. Why can't Scotland do the same?