As editor of the newly launched weekly Farming News, I found Simon Gourlay (Other Lives, 28 October) to be a refreshingly dynamic and reformist president of the National Farmers Union.
While he was still deputy president, in 1983, he agreed to brief our freshly appointed staff of some 25 journalists in a converted church in Knightsbridge, central London. Just as Simon entered the room, a thunderstorm broke and amid claps of thunder and shafts of lightning he looked the very prophet.
He maintained close contact with us as president, strengthening our coverage of union affairs.
