MANY tributes have been forthcoming this week for Wiltshire police firearms officer Dick Fuller.
Everyone including friend, neighbours and former colleagues have all remembered Sgt Fuller as a dedicated officer and someone to have on your side in an emergency.
Strangely the only organisation that has not been quick to put their name to the tribute is Wiltshire Police.
A short statement in the name of the assistant chief constable, who arrived in Wiltshire just a few months ago, was released on Monday.
Yesterday a press release quoting unnamed firearms officers was put out. Bizarrely we were told it would not be safe to identify these men.
We chose to report instead the words of his former commanding officer who retired last month and knew him as a brave officer, loyal friend and community stalwart.
I too knew Dick. His children went to Bishops Canning School at the same time as mine.
Dick was, as many people have said, one of the good guys. Always ready to help.
Why he was driven to take his own life can only be a matter of speculation until the inquest is held. But everyone who knew him will miss him and be thinking about his family.

Like most parents I was interested to see the GCSE league tables that came out this week. Papers get a sneak preview of the league tables a few days before they can be published and I was a bit shocked to see Devizes School (where my 15-year-old daughter is a pupil) could only manage 38 per cent of its pupils passing five or more gcses at grade C or above when subjects included maths and English.
I was pleased though that, unlike some other head teachers, Devizes head Malcolm Irons, did not duck the question when asked why the result was so low.
He explained that there had been problems with teachers in the two core subjects but he was happy that these had now been ironed out and he had high hopes of this year's GCSE students.
So I was somewhat dismayed when my daughter told me yesterday that she has still not had the result of her maths mock GCSE because the teacher was off sick and was not expected to return next week.
Her form is being taken by a supply teacher who can do little more than hand out work sheets and try and use her own rudimentary knowledge of maths (she gave the subject up after GCSE) to help the class.
My daughter's form is in a middle set for maths. At a recent parents evening I was told she should get a C but if she works hard this could become a B. The danger is that without a qualified teacher it could drop to a D and this would be useless to both her and the school. Two weeks of proper maths teaching lost now could mean the difference between those crucial two grades.
When my children were younger and we lived in Bishops Cannings it was vogue to send youngsters to either St John's or Lavington for senior eduction. We decided to stick with Devizes and I have been pleased with Mr Irons' approach. But with St John's getting 65 per cent of its pupils to pass five or more GCSEs, including maths and English, and Lavington 57 per cent many parents may be thinking the extra travelling is worth the better results.

Last weekend I spent a few days in Greece and it was great sitting in the sunshine in a beach side taverna but it really made me appreciate the festive look Devizes has taken on when I returned.
Sunshine is all very well but Christmas is all about cold crispy mornings and lights sparkling on dark evenings.
I have only just started to feel the least bit festive. It was helped yesterday evening when I attended a candle service in Devizes Market Place organised by Dorothy House.
It was a very simple service with a few well known carols and a couple of readings but it really did bring home the true meaning of Christmas and gave me a chance to remember loved ones who are no longer with us.
It was a sad moment remembering all those amazing Christmases of my youth but it also made me very glad to live in a town like Devizes.
A few young people were gathered by the side of the fountain but there was no feeling of us and them. They were doing their thing and we were doing ours on a wet and windy Thursday evening but we were all part of the town scene.

Devizes is more or less back to normal now after the terrible death of Matthew Baggott but of course for his close friends and family life will never be the same again.
For several days the town had a strange feel about it as if the whole community was stunned, not so much by the death but by the way it happened.
I was one of the first at the scene after witnessing the arrest of two men just yards from our Gazette office.
Like many Devizes people I assumed Matthew had died from one unfortunate stab wound and was shocked to hear of the severity of the attack when a man appeared in court on Saturday.
Devizes being Devizes most people knew somebody who knew Matthew well even if they did not know him themselves.
The father of one of my son's best friends was a a close friend of Matthew and talking to him brought home to me how choices we make in life are so important.
This man had known Matthew since they were young adults. He admitted he too had hung out in town and drunk too much but had eventually managed to get his life back on track.
He told me that Matthew had encouraged him and others to make sensible choices even though he had found it difficult to do so himself.
Matthew's friend now has a decent job and is close to his teenage son, who is a talented footballer. Matthew's own son James, 12, has left poignant tributes to his father at the makeshift shrine in St John's churchyard. He too is a good sportsman but unfortunately Matthew won't have the chance to cheer him on from the touchline.
Let's make sure there are no more of these senseless deaths.

After a couple of weeks away in Greece it is nice to be back in Devizes and reassuring that so little has changed.
It's strange isn't it that when you are away you expect massive things to have happened. The worst thing was our son, who returned from holiday a week earlier than us, forgot to water the hanging baskets and Wiltshire had its only constant week of dry weather.
One of the cats had gone walkabout as well. I found poor Dennis cowering in a hedge a mile or so from our house. When questioned the afore mentioned son claimed he didn't realise the cats had to be fed twice a day.
Not surprisingly though he had managed to meet his own culinary needs.
As far as news goes we are well and truly in the silly season and our recognition of this was a story on an escaped raccoon. When, what was claimed to be, the body of said raccoon was found at the roadside the website story went to number one in our best read list.
Carnival season is upon us and it is really sad that is was so wet this afternoon for the Picnic In The Park event in Devizes.
As I drove past Hillworth Park a little while ago a troop of hardy but very damp toddlers were being led back down the road.
Lets hope that there is better weather for next Monday's carnival fair and the parade the following Saturday.
Strangely the one event I have never been to is the confetti battle but I am determined to go this year.
A new police chief is about to take over the Devizes area and he popped in to see us on Friday. Due to a police reshuffle his patch will include both Kennet and North Wiltshire.
He is worried about the public perception of the police at the moment as the force goes through a lot of changes so it will be interesting to see what happens when he takes up his post in a few weeks time.
A quicker response should be one of his top priorities. My family are quite involved with Devizes Town football club and it is great that former Swindon town legend Fraser Digby has joined his teenage son on their books.
It would be nice to see a few more people at Nursteed Road cheering the side on.

First of all I have to apologise for not posting any new entries for a number of weeks. Although I doubt many people have noticed!
Due to staff shortages I have been working as a reporter in our Chippenham office and I have to say that getting back to what journalism is really all about was a refreshing change.
I actually had the chance to get out and meet a number of people and most of them were delightful.
Driving around the beautiful North Wiltshire countryside reminded me of how lucky we are to live in this county.
I had tea with Sarah Gray - estranged wife of MP James - and she told me how she really wants to get a job. Chatting to her I think she would be brilliant as a charity fundraiser. Must be someone out there who could use her drive, enthusiasm and don't forget the contacts.
I also went to the lovely home of Pink Floyd's Nick Mason and met his delightful wife Annette who I interviewed for a feature in our Lifestyle magazine.
She was totally unstarry despite having a helicopter parked on the front lawn.
But it is nice to be back in good old Devizes and one thing I won't miss are the so-called temporary traffic lights at Bromham. They have to be the most annoying roadworks ever.
Parking charges in Chippenham are also rediculous. I hadn't really taken on board up much they had gone up until the first morning I p ulled into a long stay car park and realised it would cost me more than a fiver to park all day.
Back in Devizes not too much seems to have changed. It seems an Ask restaurant is to open in the Market Place and judging by one visit to its Marlborough premises I would think this is a good thing. But I am told by others who go more often service can be a bit on the slow side and prices a bit high.
What surprises me is that there has been so little happening at the old Beales store where a Weatherspoons is meant to be opening.
New people have moved into the Rising Sun but the idea of table dancing has been dropped. Probably a good thing not sure Devizes was ready for that.
While in Sainsburys on Saturday I noticed that Bovril was back. I commented on the lack of Bovril in the town a couple of months ago and so I am taking the credit for that with Blog Power!