I think it's probably time we let you all know that Andrew King of Stomp, Truss and Bucket, Fiddling Around, Moondance, etc, had a stroke in the early hours of last Thursday. His friends and family have been keeping the news close to their chests until now because obviously we've been hoping that he'll make a speedy recovery. It rather looks now as if that recovery is going to be a longer climb than we had at first hoped.

Andrew is in The Luton and Dunstable Hospital, where he is expected to remain for the next three weeks or so, following which he'll be going on for a lengthy period of rehabilitation. If anyone would like to visit Andrew or to send him and Gill their best wishes perhaps you might like to contact me offline at martin_dot_appleby_at_mac_dot_com and I'll give you his exact address.

Obviously everyone is shocked that this should happen to Andrew in this way - particularly as he's probably the fittest person we know, and although we're looking at making arrangements to fulfil his workload we don't want that to be our priority at this stage; we just want to see him up and about and back to his old self.

IVDF is a big concern to us all, and it's looking fairly certain that we're going to be doing it without Andrew. We're in touch with the organisers to make sure this goes ahead one way or another. Stomp are having a meeting early next week, and we'll be deciding on a course of action after that point. I'm sorry to have to be the bearer of such sad news, and as soon as I know more I will pass it on.

You're all very welcome to pass this information on to your contacts/other newsgroups and so on.

Regards

Martin Appleby
Senior Studio Manager
BBC Radio Resources, Radio & Music