Rowan RIP

A crowd of up to 500 mourners paid their last respects to Rowan Dore who was buried earlier today at St Margarets Church, Rottingdean. The nearby Plough Inn was choc-a-bloc for hours afterwards as his friends and family drank to the doyen of Sussex journalism. Red wine flowed as Rowan would have wanted it to. A wreath from the branch was among the floral tributes sent to the funeral.

Mourners included former Press Association correspondent, the legendary Chris Moncrieff, with whom Rowan once formed part of PA’s Parliamentary team, leading Sussex politicians and dozens, maybe 100-plus, of journalists who attended a lyrical service which vividly evoked an uncannily accurate picture of Rowan and his life’s achievements.

It was almost, for ex-Argus staff, a day out with everyone you’d ever worked with – a sure sign of the respect in which Rowan, who died on December 15, was held. Ex-Argus staffer Chris Baker travelled up from Torbay for the funeral and Guardian employee and former Brighton/Mid Sussex branch secretary Helene Mulholland came down from London. Rowan was widely respected outside journalistic circles – actor Mark Brailsford dedicated Brighton Komedia’s Christmas Treason Show last week to Rowan’s memory – he was a big fan of the satire show.

Once again, the branch offers condolences to Rowan’s family. And spare a thought for Argus staff – as one reporter said: “It’s been like a morgue ever since he died.” That was three weeks ago and Argus journalists have bravely carried on despite the pain. The branch hopes from the heart that the Argus has a happier 2006.

Thanks once again to Karen Hoy for keeping us informed and I understand Phil Mills will be penning a fuller, and better, report in today’s (Thursday’s) edition of the Argus. Click on the headline and you can link through to the Argus site.

And there's a touching few pars from the Roy Greenslade's Telegraph column here http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2005/12/27/ccnote27.xml