Editor’s Farewell

It now falls to me to close down, shut up shop, and go home. Dave Hunt has kindly done “the funny bit”, and so I can do “the sad bit” – well, it’s a bit sad to me anyway.

Do you realise that I have been producing Scorpio News and its predecessors for well over ten years now? Little did I realise, when I said to Kerr Borland “Can I help with the INMC?” back in 1978, just how much I was letting myself in for. I even tried to resign twice, and comments to this effect were published, but I let myself get talked out of it. A bit like Frank Sinatra I suppose – “And now, the end is near, and so I take the final curtain” as he would say time and time again, but always coming back for more. There are differences between Frank and I though, after all he’s getting on a bit and has got stacks of money. I’m considerably younger, and although I haven’t got quite as much loot as he has, I bet he hasn’t got £10 worth of Premium Bonds! And I don’t think that I’ll have yet another return performance to produce another 80-BUS related magazine.

So, what remains for me to do? Well, there are lots of thanks to be said. I’ll name some names, although of course the trouble with that is the chance of upsetting someone by not mentioning them – sorry. Well, Kerr Borland employed me at Nascom, and so must take the credit (or blame) for me ever getting involved in this, and John Marshall maintained that employment for over 8 years, until I decided that the grass must be greener elsewhere.

Dave Hunt deserves a very special mention for the many, many hours that he has put in over the years. Then David Parkinson, Richard Beal, Paddy Coker, Clive Bowden, Rory O’Farrell and good old Doctor Dark, alias Chris Blackmore, for the large number of items that they have each submitted. Next, of course, there are the authors of many individual letters and articles which have kept the magazines going over the years. And I won’t get away without a special mention for my wife, Viv, who has had to put up with the amount of time that I have been engrossed in magazine preparation, the draft copies scattered all over the lounge floor, and who has helped with the typing and in the “stuffing”, addressing and stamping that gets the things on their way. To all of these people, who have had little reward other than seeing their names in print, many, many thanks.

But, of course, there would have been no point to any of it if there hadn’t been you, the reader! You have made it all possible, and deserve the most special message. Thanks Bert. ●