Monty Watkins and Miniworld magazine

I've just read the story in Mini Magazine about their rivals at Miniworld. At Stanford Hall Wingnut and I stayed behind to watch the prize giving. Monty Watkins was not present and the prizes were given out by his deputy , Karen Drury. Chris Cheal was behind the microphone and told the assembled multitude that Monty had already left Miniworld to go and look after his sick mother who lives in Thailand. Monty was in the process of selling his flat in Brighton . Apparently his father was Australian and died some years ago , looked after by a brother in Australia. Monty now feels obliged , so we were told , to go and look after his ailing Thai mother.
As for the claim that Kelsey publishing are taking over Miniworld and other IPC titles, my ex-Kelsey contacts tell me it is true. I am also told that Kelsey are not a good company to work for ! However the evidence is that Kelsey are going places and know what they are doing. When firms like IPC state that they are re-structuring by selling off titles , to me that suggests they need the cash. If Kelsey are in a position to expand , then they are doing something right. Until 2009 Kelsey published Classic Car Weekly under licence from EMAP and pushed it to record circulation. Here is their website.

http://www.kelsey.co.uk/magazines.php

Mini Magazine rather disparagingly described them as " producing low-budget niche magazines, and has a range of
motoring titles including Modern MINI."

Certainly my copy of Jaguar World Monthly seems to use slightly lower quality paper , but it is not noticeble and certainly doesn't effect the the quality of the journalism. Also Kelsey have made a success of "Modern Mini" , while Future Publishings own magazine dedicated to the new MINI went belly-up.

One arguement put forward on Mini forums is that sales of Miniworld are declining because it is now 10 years since production ceased of the classic car and that the magazine faces inevitable decline. Kelseys roster of titles includes "Triumph World", and the last real Triumph came out of Canley in 1980. If Kelsey can make a profit publishing a title about a marque of car that dissapeared 30 years ago , then Miniworld should present no problem.

Sorry to ramble but I thought I would add my own musings to the subject.