It's also with great regret that I have to pass on the news of the death on Monday 15 December of the Rev Grattan Bannister, of Ballydehob, Co Cork, after a short illness. Grattan was one of those unique people whom it's almost impossible to describe. A true gentleman of the old school, a refined, polite and kindly man, and a real character. I don't know his age, but he would have been around 80 as far as I know, and had been actively observing until his recent illness. His particular interest was variable stars, especially eruptive variables such as SS Cygni.
At my original suggestion, he hosted 'Pluto Parties' every summer in West Cork, where on suitable weekends some of his friends, particularly from the Cork Astronomy Club, would gather in either Ballydehob where he lived, or at the house of two close friends, Bill & Jane Otway in Schull, and we would attempt to see Pluto visually through a selection of telescopes. I attended on every year except one, attracted as much by the craic and the company as by the chance to see Pluto again. We were often beaten by last-minute changes in the weather, but on at least one occasion we did see it in the good old-fashioned way: photons from Pluto directly into your eyes! That was when it was still a planet, BTW, so there are a few of us who have seen all NINE planets in the Solar System with our own eyes!
Grattan was a great correspondent, and the arrival of a letter from him, in perfect 'copperplate' handwriting, was always a welcome treat. He was a great linguist, and would often quote something from Greek or Hebrew at you, just to make a particular point. And all the meals at the West Cork astronomy events were preceded by Grattan's 'Grace' in Irish. He was not widely known outside the Cork & West Cork circle simply because he lived so far away, and as he did not drive but travelled locally on a tiny motorcycle he was not able to journey very far himself. He always dressed totally in black, and with his tiny, thin and fragile frame, it was amazing how he would go out in the small hours of a winter night just to get some particular observation.
Anyone who had the pleasure of meeting him will know what I mean when I say that we have lost a true gentleman, and a fine amateur astronomer. I will miss him greatly.
  
