Live out of town and need a hotel?
   Well how about a lovely two-bed town house on the river! Flat-share available...
   It is amazing how many Dial-a-Cab drivers live literally hundreds of miles away from their regular work place. We have some who live in Devon, Cornwall, France, Spain and one even in Switzerland! And of course, living in those places means you don’t go home nightly.
   Some stay in small, reasonably priced hotels such as the Etap in  

Christmas wine deliveries
   I recently returned from the

Bob Woodford (Ex-P49)
Saint Genies de Fontedit, Languedoc, France

150 not out!

   In April 1997, eight Dial-a-Cab drivers faced a grilling by the-then Board of Management to decide who would take over the helm of Call Sign from outgoing Editor Gerald ‘Jery’ Craig. Jery had been there for almost 14 years and 117 issues, although for several years due to cost cutting by the BoM, Jery was only allowed to publish every two months.
   At the time, there was a feeling among the Board that future editors should be awarded short-term contracts so that fresh faces could be brought in after three years rather than have the same face and formula year after year. Jery was given the news and invited to re-stand for the position. He declined but "nagged" Alan Fisher to put himself forward – something he declined to do until eventually after the 101st phone call from Jery when Alan gave in!
   Alan did admit that he shocked himself by coming out on top. He had been on DaC for 22 years at the time, involved in the mag as Big Al since the late 1980s and it’s predecessor, News and Views as a poet for several years before that. Although he had worked for the Daily Mirror and even had a novel published by the time he was 18, his experience at editing was nil. But the interviewers must have seen something they liked because they put him on a three-month trial.
   Now as Alan equals Jery’s 14-year tenure, he has also achieved something that is unlikely to be beaten so long as Call Sign stays monthly; this December issue marks his 150th. Alan proudly told me that he publishes 11 Call Signs a year and has never missed an issue – even when a close relative suddenly died, when his wife and proofer Linda had her quadruple heart by-pass or when he moved home. I asked Alan how long he thought he would be editing DaC’s mag?
   "I really don’t know," he said, "just as they decided in 1997, I still operate on a contract and that could be terminated with very little notice. What I do know is that I won’t be doing this in 14 years time and in fact I probably wouldn’t have been here now had I not had such brilliant assistance from my regular contributors, drivers who constantly send me stories for publication and especially my photographer Alan Green (E52) who also does so much running around for me! The BoM also help by giving me unlimited freedom!"
   Alan admitted that he felt proud at reaching the 150-issue milestone.
   "I hadn’t even realised until a driver asked me last month how many issues I had edited. At the time it didn’t seem a lot until I realised how many batches of 11 issues a year it takes to reach 150!"
   And was there anything he had published over that time that he was particularly proud of?
   "I’m very proud that Call Sign was the first trade magazine to accept letters via email – that was from our first issue in 1997 – and also the first magazine by many years to provide an on-line version and library facility back in May 1998, thanks to Vince Chin. We have also had many touching stories and campaigns – some of which were successful and others that weren’t, but at least where we could say that we tried. But one success comes to mind. In 1999, Call Sign ran a campaign claiming that the PCO’s stance towards insulin dependant diabetics by taking their licenses away was unfair and should be replaced by a policy based more on commonsense with each case taken individually depending on medical advice. Even the head of the PCO Roy Ellis appeared in this mag to put the PCO point of view. Several insulin dependant diabetics on DaC later got their licenses back following court action based on that principle, followed by other non-radio drivers. All said that it was the campaign in Call Sign that had started the ball rolling. When I received several thank-you letters from drivers who had gotten their livelihoods back, that meant more than anything else I have ever had…"

Ron Yarborough
Call Sign on-line