Oonah Pim Photo: Photo courtesy of Western Telegraph
Memories
Oonah Pim has just celebrated a special birthday. She shared some memories with Alan York.
Oonah Pim is a very sharp, observant woman. She is shrewd and thoughtful, always keen for a conversation, loves discussing all aspects of life, the nature of people, and, as a birthright Quaker, the changing forms of Quakerism and spirituality. She loves meeting young people and, especially, children, relishes our occasional ‘all-age’ Meetings and has a generously benevolent view of humanity. She is quick, though, to face up to hypocrisy and cant.
On 21 April Oonah celebrated her one hundredth birthday. She has many interesting memories. Born in Dublin, a century ago, into a long-established and strongly Quaker family, she attended Quaker Meetings as a child. She clearly remembers that all the men had beards and that all the women sat separately.
The whole of Ireland was then part of the United Kingdom, and she remembers the chaos, after 1918, when republicans fought for independence and the British government sent in troops. There was a lot of fighting in Dublin. Oonah remembers having to stay inside the house, lying on the floor, hearing the sound of rifle fire all around. She remembers her father telling her to lie still and not to scream. When southern Ireland became independent her family moved to London.
Oonah was eleven when she left and was sent to a Quaker girls’ school in Darlington. She was good at games and, after leaving school, in 1931, trained as a teacher and then taught Physical Training. In 1938 she was selected for an exchange programme with the USA and sailed there on the German liner The Bremen. Because of the threat of war, the American girl did not come to Britain. Oonah remembers using her time to see America. She also visited Mexico, where she ran out of money. She remembers spending some days without food before being helped by the British embassy. This episode was typical of her adventurous spirit. During the war years Oonah drove ambulances and ran Physical Training (PT) classes for women working in factories in the south and west of England.
After the war Oonah continued with PT, organising and running classes in schools. When the Northern Ireland government decided to improve PT in their schools they felt that someone acceptable to both Protestants and Catholics should take charge of training the necessary staff. Oonah was suggested and chosen since, as a Quaker, it was thought (correctly) she could not be pressured to take sides. In the beginning, Oonah remembers, she only taught girls but after some years men were included. One of her star students was Kate Hoey, Northern Ireland high jump champion, later a minister for sport in the Blair government and, more recently, London’s commissioner for sport.
When the ‘troubles’ started in 1969 she was, as a Quaker, one of the few people who felt comfortable walking in both Catholic and Protestant streets in Belfast. She became known and respected in both communities. After her retirement, Oonah was awarded an OBE by the queen for her work. In 2003 she was awarded an honorary doctorate by Queen’s University Belfast, in recognition of her educational work.
Oonah retired to Solva in Pembrokeshire in 1978. She has spent much of her time befriending those whom she called ‘the elderly’, many of whom were often much younger then she was. She often took people in her car to social events and medical appointments and continued driving until she was ninety-eight.
Oonah was a founder member of the group that eventually became the St Davids Quaker Meeting. She continues to be a really central and much loved member of the Meeting. Her calm and dignified demeanour is a welcome sight every Sunday morning.
