Paul has announced via his FB page that his time with Lindisfarne is now over.
Assuming this is true it's bound to create some speculation.

I think Paul had some issues with arthritis in his shoulder and possibly his wrists, which may be the cause. He just may feel it’s time to hang up the sticks, sadly.

...it's bound to create some speculation.

Yes, I'm sure it will feed the rumour mill, although possibly not to any useful end.

I won't breach anyone's confidence here, but I believe the health problems which prevented Paul from performing with Roxy at the Hall Of Fame induction ceremony have eased somewhat, so I don't think that is necessarily the reason for the split with Lindisfarne.

Mind you, I'm told that Lindisfarne had no drum roadie, so I'm glad that Paul no longer has to assemble and dismantle his kit either side of his performances!

There will doubtless be reignited hopes of some 50th anniversary gigs by Roxy, but my understanding is that any shows under the band name have to include BF, Phil & Andy. The last news on Andy's health problem (which affects some of his fingers) suggested, sadly, that we may not hear him play in public again. I'd love to be proved wrong, mind you...

That's a very salient post Smudge. The average age of 'the Roxy Four' is now 72 and whilst most people of that age enjoy far better health than their forebears, there can't be much doubt that life on the road is ever more gruelling and retirement is as attractive as it is deserved.

I'm as guilty as the next man/woman at craving my next fix of BF live. Post 2011, I've given up on any notion of ever seeing Roxy tour again but in both cases I wonder if we're not just a little too demanding of people who deserve the sort of rest late in life that many of us are already - or soon will be - savouring.

The creativity in these artists may still drive them in ways that don't apply to us lesser mortals, but for their sake perhaps studio work - whether it's something new or mining such a rich archive - might sate that ongoing creative appetite, rather than ramping up the mileometer?

Just some heavy-hearted and reluctant realism...?

Gary - could you post the Facebook link please re Paul?

Smudge - Hopefully you are right about Paul's problems being somewhat better. It's worth remembering that there is a huge physical effort in drumming particularly if you play like TGPT. There are several examples of well known drummers who retired because of the physical effort and the fact that they couldn't perform to the standard that they wanted. The late, great Neil Peart of Rush springs to mind. As regards Andy he suffers from Dupuytren's contracture, which my late Father suffered from for many years. Initial surgery can be quite successful, but then the situation can become more complex. Of course Andy had successful treatment for throat cancer a few years back too.

UK Richard - agree with you 100% on your comments. I'm just so pleased that PM is able to remain productive

Roger

The Lindisfarne Live webpage still has TGPT listed as their drummer and has more than a dozen gigs listed for later in the year

http://lindisfarne.com/about/

Perhaps he has left Lindisfarne but I couldn't find any confirmation of the presumed departure...

If anybody has a direct link to TGPT's FB page and his recent announcement perhaps they could post it here on the VRForum. There seem to be a lot of Paul Thompsons on Facebook...

His page is here:

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100011328356198

I'm not adept enough to screenshot the post, but hopefully this copy & paste attempt will suffice:

Just to let everyone know that my my time playing with Lindisfarne has come to an end . I have really enjoyed playing the absolutely brilliant songs with the fantastic musicians in the band.

As for the Lindisfarne website, I don't think it gets terribly regular news updates... Although perhaps they're waiting until they can also announce Paul's successor?

Just to add to Smudge's post here is an image of the official announcement from Paul, he manages his own Facebook page and posted it himself. Reading Paul's responses to people on his page it seems he is "not retiring", has "nothing planned" for the time being but that he "hopes to keep drumming" and when asked why his time with Lindisfarne came to an end his response was "all things must pass".