(Dim) Light Dawns
Posted By Judith on 20th February 2015
There’s a limit to what you can write about painting and decorating. Whilst a brief sojourn into fitting hanging rails in the wardrobes provided some light relief, the last few weeks have been mainly painting, so I thought instead I’d write about a happy accident that happened before Xmas.
First I need to briefly go back to WWII when my dad was a ‘Desert Rat’ serving with the the 8th Army in North Africa. In civilian life he worked for the local electricity supplier, the Yorkshire Electricity Board (YEB) as it was in those days.
Growing up I remember quite vividly a saying that he would use when describing someone of low intellect. ‘They’re as dim as a Toc H lamp’.
As a child I never questioned it’s origin, and when I was older I just assumed it was a ‘YEB saying’, something to do with a dim light bulb or the like. After all, I never heard anyone else use it.
Over the years the saying has stayed with me, popping into my head unbidden from time to time, and I’ve found myself wishing I’d asked my dad about it when I had the chance.
Imagine my surprise when watching the Remembrance Service from the Cenotaph in November, David Dimbleby uttered the words, ‘The Toc H Association’.
So it wasn’t electrical after all, it was military.
I’ve watched the Remembrance Service for years but can’t remember hearing the expression before, so I obviously need to pay more attention. In my defence, I take more notice of the music. I’ve always loved a good tune and they don’t come any better than military marches.
However, I digress.
It appears that ‘Toc H’ is a Christian organisation set up by a British Army chaplain in Belgium during 1915, to provide rest and recuperation to battle weary troops, and it’s still going strong 100 years later. If you want to know more, here is a link to their website.
They chose as their emblem an early Christian oil lamp, elegant and beautiful, but not renowned for it’s brightness, hence my dad’s saying.
So there you have it. This is what a Toc H lamp looks like.
What is it Peter says? Ah yes, ‘Every day’s a school day’, even if it takes 50+ years for the light to dawn. Well it is only a dim light!
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