Elena Bertin
(1922–2018)
In February we lost Elena Bertin, good
friend of the Waldensian Church Mis-
sion and sister of Albert, former mem-
ber of our Committee. She was 95 and
had just recently celebrated 90 years
attending the same church: the Swiss
Church in London. Albert wrote the
story of their family, a Waldensian fam-
ily settled in London, for the Review
in several instalments … Maybe we
should make a booklet of it? This photo
portrays Elena aged 12 and Albert aged
9 at a Carnival party organised by the
Ambassador for the Italian schools in
London in 1935.
Anthony Earl (1942–2016)
With great sadness we learned of Anthony’s death at the end of 2016. In
September Anthony had surgery for a heart condition. He was readmitted to
hospital before Christmas and those who saw him then remarked on his frailty.
At Cambridge he studied French and Spanish, but Italian became his real
love. He had a successful career as a teacher (Italian and French) and became
Head of Modern Languages at Eltham College. Here he encouraged pupils to
take part in exchanges, took groups to Italy and France and did all he could
in many ways to encourage young people to achieve their potential. He also
worked for closer cooperation between the schools which have formal and
long-standing connections with the United Reformed Church. Friendships
he had made at Cambridge were lifelong. Though he himself never married,
he took a keen interest in the children of his friends.
In his retirement Anthony became a valuable member of the URC Walden-
sian Fellowship. He served the Committee for many years as well as leading
several group visits to Italy. His knowledge of Italy and Italian culture was
much appreciated, both for the enrichment of our understanding and for the
good deals he was able to strike on our behalf in restaurants.
He made annual visits to the Collegio Valdese in Torre Pellice (the only
Protestant grammar school in Italy), where he gave English lessons to the stu-
dents across the 14–18 age range on a theme chosen each year by the school.
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