Mick writes that we have just learnt of the passing of one of our early Heathens, Bob Rowe, after a long battle with brain tumour that caused him to go blind.

Bob was a pianist and singer who became more and more frustrated as he lost his sight. He tried coming back to the Heathens once he was given a seeing-eye dog, but it was all too much.

Bob was an accomplished academic (Newcastle University) and family man, and he will be remembered fondly by those of us who knew him.