Roy Burdin

In 2018, VfL celebrated the 98th birthday of lifelong plant-eater Roy Burdin. 

Roy, who served in the RAF during WW2 had been a life-long vegetarian because his father had eaten a meat-free diet. But it wasn’t until Roy was in his 60s that he converted to veganism. He said that factory farming was the reason behind cutting out all animal products.

“I was well into my 60s when I went vegan. It was still considered to be rather an advanced step and a lot of people who were vegetarian couldn’t see the point in giving up dairy produce and so on. It wasn’t until factory farming came along and it was that aspect that convinced me that to be honest, you had to go vegan rather than just vegetarian.”

When asked what is secret is to healthy living, Roy said: “I have always believed in getting out in plenty of fresh air, living in the country most of my life I expect to be classified as a country boy and apart from cutting out meat, and now going vegan, I say that you should eat straight forward, good healthy food which is plant orientated.”

He said: “I am happy to press on (being vegan) and I will never change now.”