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Calumannabel (Western Isles Blog) asked who Jeremy Godwin is….? I’ll have a bash at this but as far as I know no one on Arran has ever met him.

We believe he lives in Penrith, Cumbria, England because his Penrith address is always printed with the copious letters he writes to the local newspaper. He writes about once a month, sometimes about local issues that he appears to have only read about in The Banner as he only refers to previous reports and although he is very generous with his opinions, he never offers any local knowledge or added information. I surmise he either visits the island very rarely or never. My personal theory is that he may have visited once many years ago and has been living vicariously through the pages of the local rag ever since. Obviously this must be very difficult as most of the paper is filled with church notices, boats for sale, cricket, golf, rugby, pool etc. scores. So he may get local papers from elsewhere too. This theory is being born out by the fact that he often chooses to share stories from local papers in Philadelphia USA etc. And BackOfBeyond (Western Isles Blog) says that they have the pleasure of Jeremys’ wisdom in their local paper too. His letters can be rather confusing as he will comment on subjects from different issues of the Banner, often issues that are long forgotten or resolved or he tells us "interesting facts" gleaned from obscure references. Some find his contribution bafflingly amusing and it drives others up the wall. I will let you make up your own minds with this tit bit:

Jeremy Godwins’ letter to the Editor July 2nd 2005 Please note that the paper comes out on a Saturday and that previously Jeremy had kindly chosen to tell us a story about frogs in Helsinki, no one was sure what the point of the latter was so Colin Cameron had written questioning Mr Godwins' motivation. Also The Editorial is written in a very personal and completely unobjective style (some would say the only personality left in it since a certain publishing group took it over, I could not possibly comment) and is either aimed at winding as many people up as possible or referring to how local events affect the writers holiday let business. The following is an exact transcript from the paper including grammar and spelling mistakes:

Sir,
These days The Banner travels as second class post and arrives on Mondays, so letters to it comes a week later.

Hurray for your thoughts on frugality (editorial 18 June). As ever, the national economy and the national attitude and philosophy is shot-term; but we are stewards of the earths resources in trust for posterity.

Where would we be in previous ages had consumed what we now enjoy? As the old saying goes, “needs are few, but wants are endless.”

In your report of the two Scots caught with a cargo of drugs, I see you name the one with Arran connections. Is this new editorial practice?

As to Colin Cameron’s question, it depends on what he means by “interesting” in this context. Let him define his terms, and then I can give him a suitable reply. Otherwise we might continue at cross-purposes, amusing some and annoying others.

Yours etc.,
Jeremy Godwin,

I have deleted Jeremys' address at Mikes' request. Forgot he was a real person with feelings for a minute. Sorry!.. That's Jeremy not Mike... Not that I'm saying Mike isn't a real person with feelings... anyone got a spade?

Everyone, feel free to help to explain the Jeremy Godwim phenonomen.