A smile from Lionel Walsh

Lionel Walsh, former correspondent and editor in Bonn, Geneva, London, Paris, Rio de Janeiro and Warsaw, smiles as he greets old friends and colleagues for lunch in La Rochelle, western France, on Thursday.

Walsh, who left Reuters in 1981, suffered a stroke at the beginning of 2004 and is in a home in the Vendée, near the house that he and his wife Veronika* bought in the early 1980s. He is wheelchair-bound and has lost the use of his left side, says Julian Nundy.

Nundy and Donald Armour are in regular contact and can give tips about travel to anyone who might be able to visit Walsh (go to Directory for their contact details).

"Lionel really appreciates e-mails and calls," Nundy says. "He needs to be kept in the loop. If anyone is passing through the region - it’s easily accessible from the Loire Valley and southern Brittany - then a diversion to take Lionel out for a bit would make a huge difference to his routine."

Lionel Walsh: My Life and Times.

Walsh’s contact details: Résidence Bellevue, 46 rue Salomon Raitig, 85570 L'Hermenault, France, +33 2 51 51 54 91 lionel.walsh@iccwbo.org

*Veronika Walsh died on 17 February 2009. ■