Remembering Roger Sawtell

As we have been preparing for our 50th birthday celebrations, one name has been coming up over and over again, appearing in memories, paperwork and documentation. Here, Alain Demontoux, our Operations and FCA Compliance Manager, looks at the legacy left by Roger Sawtell, a gentle coop giant, who died at the age of 95 on December 15th 2022

‘I was first told of the sad news of Roger’s death in early January, when I was, co-incidentally, going through the ICOF historical archive.

From the very first Board meeting minutes from July 5th 1973 to all the government correspondence around the ICO Act in 1976, through countless books, pamphlets and how to set up and support coops and more – Roger’s name is woven into the very fabric of ICOF history.

For someone who has been a trustee and staff of ICOF for over 20 years, it has been humbling to explore and experience Roger’s legacy through ICOF’s historical archive. I quote the obituary written by Tom Pearson at Daily Bread.

“Roger Sawtell was a quiet and gentle man, and yet his legacy is one of many of thousands of lives changed.”

The Observer also carried his obituary here.

We are forever grateful for Roger’s tireless work and we dedicated a timeline of our fifty years to him