Eye - 08 March 2024

From Never too old to

Never too old

Friends might remember a story that appeared in the sunshine pages on 26 January, ‘Never too old’.

Bristol-based Roger Sturge, an eighty-five-year-old Friend, appeared on the BBC News website, sharing how he hasn’t let age stop him from pursuing a PhD examining the work of Quakers in Nazi Germany.

Roger told Eye that the story developed from an unexpected place: ‘Oddly enough the contact arose from me being interviewed on WhatsApp by BBC News over the disruption to Eurostar on 30 December when I was held up in Brussels for twenty-four hours, and I mentioned that, among other reasons for being in Germany in December, I’d been getting archive material from German Quakers.’

Roger has found that the piece has sparked curiosity locally: ‘I’m expecting to hear from Radio Bristol… but my favourite response was a message on the WhatsApp group for the community of my road, asking if they’ll have to ask for my autograph.’

Peace-loving eggs

How does our faith impact on the language we use?

Beth Allen, from Bromley Meeting, shared a story of how this can filter through as far as a dippy egg: ‘My parents both served in the Friends Ambulance Unit during the 1939-45 war and we grew up as a pacifist family.

‘When we had boiled eggs, we cut our toast into “soldiers” and dipped them in the yolk like thousands of other children.

‘A Quaker I once met, from a family even more committed to the Peace Testimony, told me that they didn’t call their toast fingers “soldiers” – but I can’t remember what word they used! What is an appropriate name? Volunteers? Protestors? Conscientious objectors?’

What do you think trusty readers? Have you got any suggestions?