The example you give is one of the exceptions rather than the norm. When it comes to funding for a PhD, the limitations are always nationality and not age.

Not too sure what area you're in, but I've never seen age restrictions on PhD studentships. (I'm talking about science PhD's in the UK)

orian, in a "teaching university" the academic staff do very little research, and spend most of their time lecturing.

I think all universities ask for at least 1 academic reference for a PhD application. In this case, I think any non-academic references will not hold that much weight anyway. Therefore I don't think the letter head on your non-academic reference would be that important.