Roger had an endless enthusiasm for seeking out and enormous talent for digitising the massive amount of collected content ahead of the launch of thepenvro.com in early 2009. And it continued as long as the contributions did.
His efforts set a high standard for displaying most all of what you see on the site today. We were excited ourselves, but It was hard, even for us, to keep up with his passion for collecting the volume of treasured contributions for which he must have scoured the earth. (At the very least all of South Pembs!) And any items loaned always made their way safely back to their owners!
Where the rest of us were happy and thankful for whatever was sent in or brought to us, Roger was jubilant when he could scoop up a handful of Penvro magazines from some obscure place or ‘old dear’. He’d drive untold miles to pick things up in person. Then countless hours were spent scanning, and digitally stitching and restoring to add to our ever growing galleries and topics.
For the 2010 and 2014 all years reunions, the slide show presentations he put together were stunning. His ideas for posters, badges, and other visuals made the occasions fun, entertaining and memorable. After each reunion, he was given hundreds of photos taken by Greg Ralph and the late David John to prepare for the galleries. Roger himself was a keen photographer, and the rest of us could only shake our heads at the skill it took for them to work a room full of excited past pupils, coaxing them to stop chatting, or raising a glass, long enough to look at the camera, smile, and 'act naturally'!
Thepenvro.com is, as it says here on the home page greeting, a place to bring together as many past pupils as possible no matter where they are in the world. Rog was a huge part of making that happen, and we will always be incredibly grateful to him for it, as we hope are all of those who visit here and enjoy the results of his dedication and hard work.
Perhaps you are only an occasional visitor to the site, but come away with a smile of recognition. Maybe you find yourself returning to spend a bit more time now and then viewing the many links and pages he helped to create. If so, we know he’d be content with that, and rightly so, job done.
If you knew Roger MacCallum, your life was richer for it. So, well done, Rog, and thanks for sharing your talent with us. But mostly we just want to say thanks for being our friend. The world is a dimmer place without you here, but know you will always shine on in our hearts.
Note: We hope to be uploading a slideshow for a visual side of Roger’s years at PGS and his contributions to thepenvro.com possibly in the coming weeks.
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