John Elkington
A world authority on corporate responsibility and sustainable development.
A wonderfully relaxing few days staying with some of our longest-standing friends, Jane and Glyn Davenport, in Lower Slaughter. Either side of my father Tim’s memorial service. Trout in the stream outside their front door. Lambs gambolling wildly in the fields nearby. An island of calm in a world in turmoil.
One of Tim’s grandchildren, Rory Chambers, is a photographer – and here are some of the images he took during the event:
Our cousin Toby Adamson took some pictures of some of the Russian veterans of the Great Patriotic War who came to Tim’s memorial service on May 11 2019. First those images, then one taken by our friend Nigel Palmer, together with some fragments of several of veterans’ stories he gleaned during the reception after the service:
Nigel Palmer, a friend we have known since the 1960s, representing the Palmers of Icomb, took the photo below of the group, with their poster of Tim. But he also quizzed them on their wartime experiences. The stories were extraordinary. As Nigel put it:
“The woman in the cheerful red beret joined the Partisans after her village was surrounded on the second day of the war. She was 12 years old, and served throughout the war behind the lines. She told me that she was the only person in her village who had survived the war. The other lady, as I’m sure you know, although very unlined, was the same age as your father. She came through the siege of Leningrad, 900 days of hunger and cold during which over a million people starved to death.
“The short sailor with the matelot shirt and clear blue eyes, centre-left, was on a motor torpedo boat trying to protect the convoys. At one point there was a slightly chilly breeze, and I asked if he was OK. He ripped open his jacket, showed his bare arms and apparently said ‘when you have been on a motor torpedo boat on the Barents Sea in January, you can never feel cold again.’ Amazing.”
Went across late to The Vaults in Leake Street, under Waterloo Station, to hear Jim Al-Khalili in conversation about his new book, Sun Fall, as part of the Nesta Future Fest. Bought a copy, which he signed for me. Fascinating – and who should we bump into over drinks before the session started than my old colleague and friend Jonathan Shopley and his wife Andrea, plus their daughters. Haven’t seen them for a while, but due to see Jonathan and Andrea in a few days at my father Tim’s memorial service.
A Bank Holiday it may have been for some, but Louise and I flew to Helsinki yesterday, though she didn’t get in till much later. Took part today in Neste’s annual summit, featuring speakers like the company’s CEO Peter Vanacker, Christiana Figuieres of Global Optimism and Nick Haan of Singularity University. A growing sense that we are all at a real inflection point. Then we worked with Peter, Simo Honkanen and Salla Ahonen on our new project.