A bit of a sad start to the new year, with the hobby losing two elder statesmen, who played their part in the development of the UK’s hobby.
Firstly John Brewer, who was editor of Railway Modeller, and who kindly gave his time and advice to those who submitted or wanted to submit material for Railway Modeller Publication
http://www.peco/john-brewer-1943-2015.
Secondly ‘Bob Symes’ as he was known through his BBC modelling series. It seems strange now to look back and see those shows and realise they were on the only mainstream media of the time, the outreach must have been huge!
http://philsworkbench.rip-bob-symes.
Rest in Peace gentlemen, and thank you.
*Hero: someone who is regarded by others for their achievements and noble qualities
Albion Yard 
I remember Bob’s TV appearances in 1975. they clearly had a profound affect on an eleven year old lad as he’s now fifty and still modelling!f RIP gents
I’d heard you were Beckhams body double for his kecks ads :0)
Aye, but his missus’ thongs were a bit tight… 😉
I remember John Brewer being very kind and taking quite a long time at York a couple of times to advise on my first articles for The Modeller as a teenager – a very nice bloke and will be missed.
Bob Symes was never someone I met but his affect will be felt for a long time – as a child we had a copy of ‘A Lineside Look at Model Railways’ recorded off the telly and I’m amazed I didn’t wear it out! I watched it repeatedly through the late eighties and nineties! I have it on DVD now! His enthusiasm shone through and will do so for many years to come too I think.
Due reverance to the two men above but isn’t ‘heroes’ an overused term nowadays? We have Helicopter Heroes on TV when in actual fact, they are just doing their jobs and every soldier who returns from Afghanistan is a hero when patently they are not, and are, again, just doing their chosen jobs. This devalues the term when it is applied to real heroes.
In general terms Neil I agree with you it is becoming overused, hence the use of the asterisk and last line of the post :0)