David Fruin

Longstanding supporters of VfL will know of the generous financial gift from the Beulah Charity Trust – formed in 1980 – that aimed to set up a retirement home for older vegetarians and later supported older veg*ns in care. The trust closed in 2021 and VfL carries on the campaign.

David Fruin was Beulah’s chair until 2021 after answering a call years before for trustees. His background is as an inspector for health and social care services: “When inspecting residential care homes and similar places, I always asked, ‘What's the place like for vegetarians?’ I usually got a satisfactory answer.”

David was in America in 1967 when he changed his diet permanently to be vegetarian: “It was a mixture of things: I don't like killing animals. And it's better for the world, since you don't need so many acres to produce the equivalent amount of vegetable plant protein, as you do for animal protein.” And he hasn’t looked back: “I've not wanted to eat a steak, I suppose, which is the epitome of meat. It's like smoking. I gave up smoking in 1970, thinking when I got to 65 I'd start smoking again, but I didn't. I don't feel I need to have the taste of meat. And the logic has got stronger over the years in terms of climate change and everything else.”

In all the years he’s been vegetarian, meat has only passed his lips once – by accident: “I started to eat a piece of dark chocolate cake in a pub, but it turned out to be a piece of black pudding. I vomited it out very quickly!”

Volunteering for Beulah was rewarding for David and its other trustees but tricky: “Previous Beulah trustees had sought funds to build a vegetarian residential care home. But the costs turned out to be too expensive. And increasingly over the years, caterers in residential care homes and elsewhere are more used to providing a variety of diets. Not just ‘English’ diets, but diets for older people from other nationalities. So, the need for a purely veg*n care residential care home is less than it used to be.”

“In the end, we tried giving money to individual veg*ns in need but it's actually quite difficult, if you want to make sure that you're not giving it away to somebody who's making up stories. The Beulah trustees decided the money would be better spent if we gave it to VfL, which is what we did.”

David had seen an advert for VfL in The Vegetarian magazine and was impressed: “It's the breadth of the work of VfL in terms of encouraging older people, and making it mainstream, and helping people with potential recipes, and being an online resource for people who are thinking about becoming veg*n.”

Aged 84, he is a keen runner – when interviewed he had just completed his 29th Great North Half-Marathon Run. David was one of 21 people in the over-80s category – he came sixth.  “I swim twice a week, so that makes a difference.” David has crossed the finish line in all his races – and has the collection of medals and t-shirts to prove it!

He adds: “When my son was born, I had just turned 50 and I thought I didn't want to be an old father. I've always kept myself fairly fit and healthy, so my son doesn't yet have to be supporting me! Though the time may come, who knows?” In the meantime, he’s entered for the Bristol Half Marathon next Spring.

Life is generally very active for David, particularly with his additional role of grandfather: “I'm in three cello groups and a recorder group and I volunteer as a maths buddy, at a primary school with children who need additional help, and at a community shop and café in the North Pennines. Plus, I've got 20 acres of trees, which friends and I have planted, and they need looking after.”

David agrees with VfL that it’s extremely important that older veg*ns are supported in having their needs met: “The purity of a veg*n approach to life is that you don't want to be forced into making a fuss, really. But you do want to maintain your standards.”