Igbo-Ukwu

The event of today (other than getting a haircut, and clearing out the shed this morning) was the memorial service for Thurstan Shaw at Sidney Sussex college.

We knew Thurstan as a deeply respected, elderly Quaker at our Meeting; and a source of young trees grown from seedlings in his vegetable plot.

It wasn't really until a few years ago that we really appreciated quite what he had achieved in Nigeria. As an archaeologist he had given the Igbo-Ukwo ("e-book-oo") people their history and thereby their identity, through discovering artifacts that evidenced sophisticated skills centuries in advance of other areas of the country.

The memorial was, nominally, in the manner of a Friend's Meeting but so many queued to give tributes, the traditional silence was near absent. I'm sure Thurstan wouldn't have minded, beyond being embarrassed by the glowing praise.

I was taken by the range of dress. Ranging from the typically casual Quaker, through black academic dress and funeral attire, to gloriously brightly coloured African dress.

The two Horse Chestnut trees of his in our garden are flowering spectacularly at the moment. Perfect timing - and probably rather more the quiet memorial he'd prefer.