I guess I don't see a great range in age, Twenty years maybe, and this disparity having mostly to do with the oldest and youngest. The man with the whatzit on the left looks to me to be something under forty, the apprentice on the opposite end is in his early teens, those in between all appear to be in their twenties to me.

Could the shoes be representative of someone who was not there, some former member of the group recently passed?

It looks like the young apprentice is levitating them to me.