ROCKET MEMBER RETIRES FROM RADIO 4

Probably the most familiar voice on Radio 4, Peter Donaldson read the news for the last time as a member of the BBC staff this month after 32 years' service.

Peter is an enthusiastic member of the East Sussex Radio Society, and you will have heard his unmistakable voice (the Sunday Times described it as "a polished and fragrant rosewood, with elegant cadences and a certain good-humoured humanity") reading the newscall (the introduction to the news) every day during Rocket's 2004 run.

We very much hope that Peter's new-found leisure will enable him to give extra time to Rocket in 2005.

Our photo (by Martin Leeburn) shows Peter (in the natty hat), with friend and colleague Brian Perkins, relaxing at a convivial gathering at Studio YG1.  We're not sure what the duck's name is.

Below, we include a report by Rocket presenter Paul Watts which first appeared in the Costa Blanca's "Round Town News", a newspaper for English-speaking expatriates.

RADIO FOUR TO BECOME RADIO POOR

In a move as unwelcome as ditching the Daleks ten years ago, the Beeb is poised to "let go" of a National Institution within the next week.

All ex-pat listeners to Radio 4 - the BBC's jewel in the crown - will of course know the voice of Peter Donaldson. Since 1973 he has been a constant in an ever-changing world. I have listened to this man all my adult life as he has delivered the news, good or more often bad but always with consummate humanity.

Now the BBC is displaying gross ageism by releasing this man just because he is 60 in August. Peter told Round Town News: "I will be doing the Today programme on Friday and am then on leave until my 60th birthday on August 23, at which point I am being retired. I was hoping for a contract of some kind to take me nearer to normal retirement age, but no contract is on offer - I assume because of what's going on here."

And what is going on, as Paul Donovan reported in The Times last week, is:

"The BBC [exerting its] right to make its employees retire at 60. It is also trying to cut more than 3,000 posts.' Donovan argues, 'that is its policy. However, it does from time to time make exceptions. James Moir, for example, was allowed to carry on as controller of Radio 2 until he was 62. Plenty of other luminaries are on freelance contracts, among them John Simpson and John Humphrys, and so have been allowed to continue beyond 60 because the retirement age that is mandatory for staffers does not apply to them."

What it does mean, if Peter Donaldson's early retirement is allowed to go ahead, is that the listener will be bereft of yet another fine broadcaster.

I remember him telling me (I say "me" because that it is the personal nature of radio) just how tricky, Tricky Dicky was. I remember him telling me the awful news of John Lennon's demise.

He told me about the birth of Wills and Harry, and the passing of the Queen Mum. It was he that let me know: my home town of Brighton had been rocked by a bomb, that the Berlin Wall had come down, how Maggie had decided to throw in the towel and countless, countless other events and stories that have made up my and everyone else's lives.

I have listened to Peter Donaldson since a teenager and known him as a personal friend for the last five years and he is a worldly, educated and wickedly funny man.

I am with Paul Donovan, when he says:

"It is a shock to discover that, after this week, we may never hear him again. I hope and pray that we do. The disappearance of his voice would impoverish the airwaves. If enough listeners ask for him back, perhaps the BBC will relent."

Well, they did with the Daleks - so why not Donaldson?

If you too feel strongly, join me and e-mail the BBC and tell them the Costa Blanca Brits say SOD: Save Our Donaldson!