If that's not far back enough, there was a piece in the ‘Hindsight' column about ‘automatic machine trading' in 1957, when a census had revealed that there were just 11 operators which owned and operated 42,479 machines (excluding retailers), responsible for a turn-over of £2.3 million - much of which came from confectionery.

Elsewhere in this fascinating back-issue was news of a French machine vending crêpes (in the coverage of this year's Vending Paris show in this issue we report on a French machine vending baguettes, so nothing very new there!). On the same page Derrick Skinner, then Director of AVAB, was calling for new members, and in his famous ‘Rumblings' column Roy P was encouraging the association to set up regional groups.

I have a bookshelf which would welcome back issues of VI - the older the better!

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As the year draws, or in this case maybe staggers, to a close, it is natural to reflect awhile and then give the crystal ball a rub. That is, in fact, exactly what the members of VI's Vending Star Chamber were asked to do, and the impressive results cover no fewer than seven pages in this issue of the magazine. As ever, I am extremely grateful to the Chamber members for giving their time to contribute to what is, in fact, the third feature in the series, and very well worth reading.

So what of 2008? Rather a strange year. Looking back it seems that, without knowing it, we were all waiting for the economic meteor to hit. The first few months seem now to have disappeared into the mists of time (or they have with me, anyway, even though they represent the period in which I took over the editorship of this magazine!).

But the vending industry rolled on, with words like ‘healthy', ‘green', ‘fair trade' and ‘quality' (thankfully) uppermost in the minds of the majority. In many respects, a period of good, positive development with some excellent vended coffee opportunities, many of which more than matched the competition from the high street. Is it me, or have we seen a fall-off in the quality of some of the coffee shop offers?

As the black financial clouds gathered, most of the industry - having weathered down-turns and recessions before - looked back on what happened in the past and tried to get in good shape both internally and externally. Problem was that nobody really knew what to expect for the coming months. I'm not so sure that we do now, for that matter.

Returning to the Vending Star Chamber, as might be expected when the nine industry leaders looked at 2009 there were nine slightly different takes on the scenario, and a range of ideas on how best to handle it. What I found very encouraging was that the word ‘opportunity' was mentioned by most.

I like Gary Unsworth's observation that: "Out of adversity comes creativity, imagination, stronger business and, I hope, a more dynamic, energetic and successful vending industry".

With that in mind, let's regard 2009 as a year of hard-won opportunity, but opportunity nonetheless. Between now and then, there's the festive season to look forward to. I hope that yours is all you want it to be, and that the New Year is better than you need it to be.

John Sewell