I was very sad to hear of the death of Father John Fitzsimmons. Like countless others, I could call him a friend for many years. Indeed, he was more than delighted to accept my invitation last year to be one of a series of guest preachers we had at Westerton Parish Church as part of the kirk's 50th anniversary celebrations. He was not at all well and preached the sermon sitting down. But he wouldn't let us down. He wanted to be with us as much as we wanted him.

When I worked for STV's religious department (when they had one!), John was someone we could call on at short notice to do a series of Late Call. Because he had the ability to do it without an autocue, we never knew beforehand what he was going to say. I well remember him on Late Call telling the story of a priest in the Borders who used to give out racing tips during the service. John said that a Glasgow tabloid newspaper got hold of the story and printed it under the headline "Sermon on the Mount". I cannot quite remember what little piece of Gospel truth he developed from that, but he managed it.

When John was appointed rector of the Scots College in Rome, I asked one of his colleagues if he was being sent to Rome so that the Vatican could keep an eye on him. His colleague replied: "No - it's so that he can keep an eye on the Vatican." There might well have been more than a grain of truth in that!

A great man. He will be sorely missed.

Rev Eric V Hudson, Bearsden.