Snapper Henry Is Top of the Bill

Wee Bill Henry is polishing up his lens for a few last pics at the Edinburgh Evening News.

Snapper Bill has handed in his ticket after almost 19 years at North Bridge and Holyrood Road and finishes up on Friday.(27 Feb)

I had the pleasure of working with Bill at the News and it was a delight - and often a relief - when you heard Bill had been assigned to your story and we were heading out together on a job.

Small in stature but always a big man on the job, Bill was the ideal partner for difficult snatches and stake outs, and you could always rely on him to back you up, especially when the going got rough.

I remember one particular snatch of a pervy teacher in a tenement in Stockbridge. With Bill partially hidden by my generously proportioned trenchcoat (trust me, it was trendy at the time)the poor sod hardly had the time to get the sleep out of his eyes when up pops Bill and blasts him - job done, don't think he knew what had hit him.

Before joining the News in 1990 Bill was a photographer with Leyland Trucks, looking after their PR needs, and moved in to newspapers after a phone call to then news editor Douglas Smith (now Scotsman subs). Two days later he got his first shift and has never, well hardly, looked back.

For the first few years he was the News' West Lothian photographer when there was a separate WL edition, working at various times alongside Scott Douglas, Jacqui Brown, Alison Dewar and Richard Neville (now deputy editor of the P&J).

With impending changes at Holyrood Road and the expected amalgamation of three picture desks Bill reckoned it was time to head for the hills, or at least Cumbernauld: "I thought it was time to bow out. Sometimes it has felt like an eternity but most of the time the years just went zoom. I'm no martyr but if my going saves the job of someone else who has a younger family, then great."

Pretty typical of the wee man.

Bill is having a leaving bash on Friday close to the office - former colleagues can get more details by giving him a call. Gutted I won't make it.