What age do we have to be to be classed as old?

Tolson Museum is having the roof replaced/repaired as we speak. I sincerely hope this expense means that the building will be retained. It’s a WW1 war memorial after all.

I REMEMBER a young lady telling me she was definitely ‘over the hill’ at the advanced age of 19. She wasn’t. I told her so. But when is ‘past it’?

In two of his letters the apostle John calls himself ‘the old man.’ Some people even thought he would last until Jesus returned. But let me introduce you to three who were probably even older.

Bronze medal position goes to one of John’s pupils. He was arrested and the Roman governor demanded that he curse Christ.

Polycarp replied: ‘I’ve served him for 86 years and he has never done me any wrong. Why should I deny my King who saved me?’

He was ready to be a martyr at 86!

On to Saxon times when plague killed many of the church leaders in Britain.

The Bishop of Rome looked desperately for volunteers. The first two turned him down.

But there was a retired Greek monk who had fled from the Muslim invaders. He was ready to leave his quiet monastery and brave this cold barbarian island.

He sorted out the churches here and stayed in office until he died in 690AD at the age of 90!

But he only gets the silver medal.

The gold medal goes to a man called Cassiodorus.

It is to him that we owe the preservation of much of Classical Greek and Latin literature.

When the western Roman Empire collapsed the Barbarian rulers inherited a well-organised system that needed administrators.

Cassiodorus was chancellor to King Theodoric the Ostrogoth. After many years working for him he retired and, with a group of fellow civil servants, he set up a small Christian commune.

Monastic communes were a big thing then but most monks came from poorer folk and often supported themselves by growing vegetables or weaving mats.

Retired civil servants weren’t good at such things! But they could copy documents.

So Cassiodorus set up his commune to do this. He even produced an encyclopaedia, gathering as much of classical learning as he could.

The great monastic organiser Benedict took this up.

And, as they say, the rest is history – including the fact that

Cassiodorus eventually died in 580AD at the age of 100.

The isolated elderly need their TVs

THE head of the BBC is leaving one well-paid job for another.

I hope he gives a thought to the over 70s who received a free TV Licence.

Many who are isolated in villages or housebound turn to the TV to know what is happening locally or nationally.

These villages are now without shops, pubs or post offices.

This is why a TV is important. It keeps many mentally alert, especially the game shows.

We were told the free licence was a reward for our dedication to our country.

Now we are told the licence is going up, probably to pay for the huge mistakes the BBC have made, something we all pay for.

Sadly the BBC cannot keep up with the other channels financially, so up goes the fee.