Absent Friends & Missing Persons

[eighthobstruction]

....oh jeez mate....very very very very very very bestio....bestio bestio.... ....jeez....better get some emogee action....

[Braunschlag]

By the way - are you paying for lunch on Thursday

[Edgy 2]

Have a ball, Rob. Any chance of seeing an albatross when you're there? Always fancied seeing one. And hope your team scoot up the league when you're away, too.

Have a great time, Edgey.

Thanks guys.

[Edgy 2]

Ferney,all the very best wishes to you.
I've learned so much from you over the years and it was an absolute pleasure to meet you a few years back.
This forum will not be the same any more.
I really hope you return at some point.

take care pal

[Pulcinella]

Ferney,all the very best wishes to you.
I've learned so much from you over the years and it was an absolute pleasure to meet you a few years back.
This forum will not be the same any more.
I really hope you return at some point.

take care pal

Roundly seconded.
Hope we meet up again at an Opera North performance.

[jayne lee wilson]

Last month marked the 10th Anniversary of my joining the BBC Messageboards. I joined at a time after my partner had spent a year undergoing treatment for Cancer, which was pronounced "sorted" - the relief had an unusual effect on me ... I found that I couldn't read novels for a long time (Eco and then Proust got me back in the habit), and sharing ideas with people on the Messageboards was a great form of therapy.

Tomorrow I hit 60 - or it hits me - a mere Spring Chicken, I know (well, perhaps "Autumn" would be more accurate, but that ruins a joke about "well-sprung" that I was going to make) but an age when a reassessment of one's priorities seems appropriate. As some of you know, my partner died six years ago - and the Forum has been an invaluable source of life for me in that time: you all helped me keep in contact with myself (even - who knows, perhaps especially - those of you who have raised my ire and passionate fury with ideas and opinions directly contradictory to my own). It has been a pleasure and a very real privilege being a Host for the past five years, and to have had the chance to steer the Forum over the past three-and-a-bit years.

But such a prvilege brings with it responsibilities which make great demands on one's time - those phishing posts advertising "Hot Sex" sites don't delete themselves. And, at this age, I need to devote more time - a lot more time - to the activities that are most important to me. I do not wish to face the end of my life (which I don't intend to occur for many decades yet!) having failed to at least attempt the compositions and writing projects that have been tickling the back of my mind for some years now. My partner was always delighted to see me working on my creative projects, and I feel I owe it to her memory as well as to myself, to devote all my spare time on this work.

And so, this is my last post as a member of the Forum. I hand the keys of the Executive Washroom over to my good friend Eine Alpensinfonie, knowing that the future of this wonderful Forum, which has been so important to me this past decade, is in the very best of hands, and I leave knowing that it can only go on to further heights of social, cultural, and educational benefit to its members, to all of whom I wish all the very best of health, wealth, and happiness, and to whom I send my very deepest gratitude for the help you've given me over the years - none more so than when most of you didn't know you were doing this.

Bestio!

I'm not being completely honest if I say... I'm close to tears.....

How can I sum up your influence on me? On my listening to, my loving of, my curiosity and my writing (or attempting to write) about music here? On how your very quality of thought and articulation forced me to think better, write better, listen better? There were tough moments between us weren't there? But they always made me look at myself, try to understand myself better - I knew you as one of the handful of people who had the gift of inwardness, the constant learning about oneself, the world, the wonderful artistic and other creations within it. We had a profound mutual respect - more than respect - that never died.

Live long and prosper! Renew yourself, recreate yourself, again!
I'll never forget you, and all the good you have done for so many of us - but perhaps most of all for Music itself; as a living breathing contemporary art form.

[ahinton]

Very sorry to see you depart. All possible good wishes to you.

[teamsaint]

Really hope you do decide to return at some point Ferney.As the others say, I have learned so much from you .I especially treasure a private “lesson “which you gave me by PM on one of the Mozart String Quintets. Typical of your generous responses to those wanting to know more.

Take care.

[Flay]

How can I sum up your influence on me? On my listening to, my loving of, my curiosity and my writing (or attempting to write) about music here? On how your very quality of thought and articulation forced me to think better, write better, listen better?

Really hope you do decide to return at some point Ferney. As the others say, I have learned so much from you.

Take care.

This came as a body blow! Although I've never (yet, hopefully) met you, I consider you to be one of my friends. Your enthusiasm, commitment, intelligence, and in particular your sense of humour have been a highlight of this message board. Thanks for all of this.

Please don't leave altogether. Lurk and emerge from time to time to let us know what you're up to and how you are.

Best wishes,

Chris

[edit] Oh, and *** HAPPY BIRTHDAY ***

[LMcD]

Really hope you do decide to return at some point Ferney.As the others say, I have learned so much from you .I especially treasure a private “lesson “which you gave me by PM on one of the Mozart String Quintets. Typical of your generous responses to those wanting to know more.

Take care.

Ferney - you have always been positive and polite and generous with the wealth of knowledge you have at your disposal. I've learned a lot from and via your replies. Every best wish for the future.

[cloughie]

Ferney - you are indeed a youngster at 60 and hopefully you have many years again to evolve and use your massive musical knowledge to great effect. You have been a great leader for the ‘forum’ and your knowledge, humour and when needed your schoolmasterly discipline has steered us forward. You will be missed hereabouts. Best wishes, Cloughie.

[cloughie]

I will be absent from the forum for a few weeks from tomorrow.
We are travelling to New Zealand and spending a few weeks with family over there
Hope to be back posting mid March.

Have a good time, edge, and may County prosper in your absence!

[antongould]

Ferney,all the very best wishes to you.
I've learned so much from you over the years and it was an absolute pleasure to meet you a few years back.
This forum will not be the same any more.
I really hope you return at some point.

take care pal

Says it all for me

[antongould]

I will be absent from the forum for a few weeks from tomorrow.
We are travelling to New Zealand and spending a few weeks with family over there
Hope to be back posting mid March.

Have a great time and watch County’s scoring spree from afar .......

[Joseph K]

Best wishes, Ferney! I will miss your contributions.

Have a great time, Edgy.