The Magazine of the Society for Psychical Research

The Magazine of the Society for Psychical Research 8 (2022) 

Thank you to everyone who has sent me good wishes on my taking over the reins as the editor of the Magazine of the SPR. I'd like to thank Dr Leo Ruickbie for his help on the hand-over and Professor Bernard Carr and Professor Chris Roe for putting their trust in me.

In the current issue you'll find a range of articles. There is an appreciation of the life of Robin Foy of the Scole Experimental Group. But as you'll see he was so much more than that with his involvement in many similar groups.. We also have part three of Brandon Hodge's Dirty Thirties Ghosts in the Machines series of articles.

A welcome return this issue is a look at some of the new books received in the SPR's library. The selections and details come courtesy of the SPR Librarian, Karen Patel. The library can be visited as listed on the SPR website.

A new name for the start of some regular contributions is Christof King, starting us off with his own take with an alternative perspective on synchronicty.

We do of course have our regular Presidential piece, from Professor Adrian Parker. A look at conflict resolution, something that seems to be needed more and more all the time in many walks of life.

And as this is my first issue I thought I would use editor's privilege and pen a couple of pages myself. As has been mentioned a couple of times, one of my hobbies is photography, which I can combine with my other interests (I wrote Ghosts Caught on Film 3 - a series whose first volume was written by our own Dr Melvyn Willin). In this article I take a very brief look at one of the latest developments in one aspect of making images - artifical intelligence.

For the Magazine I hope it's business as usual with a mix of regular and one-off articles, all united by being of interest to members of the SPR, and also united by being the high standard you have come to expect.

As I continue my role of editor there are new things I will bring in; I'm already working in issues nine and ten. One thing that will be coming back that was recently popular with everyone is the cover competition. Watch this space. Since COVID lockdown we have had a series of online talks via the medium of Zoom, arranged by Dr David Vernon. These are different to in person meetings of course but the great advantage is they do allow more participation. I'm based in Edinburgh and it is a lot easier to log into a Zoom session than to get down to London for an in-person meeting. So whilst I hope Zoom meetings never replace real-life sessions they have an advantage. I am approaching some of the speakers and inviting them to pen a piece for the Magazine, just another way of spreading the word.

I must admit I am really enjoying editing my first issue and I hope you like reading it.

Remember, this is your magazine. There is space for a lively letters page but that only works if you contribute. And talking of contributions - if anyone would like to contribute an article then please get in touch. If there are topics you would like to read about but don't necessarily want to write yourself then please get in touch as well. All correspondence is via the same email address as in the past, [email protected]

Gordon Rutter

Editor

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