It's intended to be an occasion for families to spend the day together and show their love and respect for their grandparents. It seems to us that because everyone is so busy these days, the traditional Sunday visit to the grandparents has fallen by the wayside and grandparents are not perhaps appreciated and honoured as much as they should be. I also have a strong sense that the benefits of prosperity that we are all reaping now were paid for by the modest frugal lives of the people who came before us and that is not often acknowledged.

For the last while I've been spending my Sundays driving to various possible locations for events in the greater Dublin area. I've been hanging around parks and assessing their suitability. Sometimes I worry that it makes me look a bit suspicious, or at least a bit of a sad fecker.

I also spend hours studying the Sunday papers, scouring them for anyone well known who looks old enough to be a grandparent. Then during the week I write to any likely candidates, asking them to show up and participate in one of our events. Recently I've written to Tony O'Reilly, Johnny Giles, Michael Smurfit, Gay Byrne and, of course, Bertie Ahern. I'm hoping that we'll have a good turnout of famous faces on the day . . . it'll help with media because we'd like it to be an annual event. I also check the financial pages, looking for businesses that we might hit on for a donation or for help with raising profile.

Friends of the Elderly is a befriending organisation, working to alleviate loneliness and isolation in the elderly living alone. It's a small organisation with big ideas.

At the moment we have over 150 volunteer visitors who have committed to call on an elderly person at least once a week, and generally to look out for them . . . help them with shopping, for instance, or just sit and have a chat. People who have been bereaved, or have mobility problems or have spent long periods of time in hospital are particularly vulnerable. Their families, or social services or neighbours refer elderly people to us.

We're getting a lot of interest from big corporations now, particularly in and around the docklands, in helping us to set up corporate volunteering programmes. Employees can share their commitment with a colleague, so that the elderly person still gets their visit even if someone is away on business.

On Sunday 23 September we are organising two key events.

The first is the Phoenix Park 5k Grandparents' Fun Run, which can be jogged or walked. It starts at 11am and takes in some of the most scenic parts of the park. I'm looking for a sponsor to take photographs of all the families who participate for the grandparents day perpetual website that we hope will become a national archive.

In the afternoon we have a flora and fauna event in St Stephen's Green . . . a leisurely stroll of the Green that starts at 2.30pm.

Whether I'm working or not I try to get out for a run myself on Sunday afternoon. I like Dollymount Strand because it's never too busy.

In the evening I like to go to the cinema or head into the city centre for an early bird meal with my wife. Wagamama and The Shelbourne would be our favourite spots.

I'm a dyed in the wool Dubliner and a big James Joyce fan too so my idea of the perfect summer evening is to go strolling around the places he wrote about.

In conversation with Katy McGuinness