The first couple of days saw me settling in to my new role, making contacts that I should have been making over the previous six months. Even on the Monday I managed to gather a reasonable amount of copy – mainly weddings and funeral reports, but also items gleaned from the minutes of the previousContinue reading “Here endeth the first lesson”
Category Archives: journalism
My own domain
Once Peter and Gareth had left the office I sat at my new desk and looked around my new domain. The stairs came up on the back wall and opposite was a wide set of windows looking down into the bustling little road off the High Street. My desk was set up with my backContinue reading “My own domain”
Out of work for a weekend
I arrived home in time for lunch on the day I was told I had failed my probationary period as a trainee reporter. Yet I was not feeling downcast because Bill O’Brien, the chief reporter at the Holywell office where I had been a probationer, had told me there was someone interested in my desireContinue reading “Out of work for a weekend”
End of the road, or a new start?
When I returned to work after my week off I was quite surprised that Bill asked me to write a feature piece about the German visitors to North Wales. I should not really have been THAT surprised as the paper did not have a town identity, such as Holywell or Mold, but was technically aContinue reading “End of the road, or a new start?”
Enjoying a drop of the holy spirit
Bill kept to his word and the next day I went to talk to the local vicar, the RC priest and three non-Conformist ministers. One was down in Greenfield and the others were at all four points of the compass in Holywell itself. The “stories” were nothing to write home about, really just snippets aboutContinue reading “Enjoying a drop of the holy spirit”
Groundhog Day in Holywell
Each day Delwyn and I turned up at the office and each day Bill set us tasks which were basically typing up copy in a presentable format. Newly-fledged copy typists could have done the job straight out of secretarial college and they would probably have been paid at the same rate. Then one morning, whenContinue reading “Groundhog Day in Holywell”
A new day – a new beginning?
The next day I arrived at the office earlier and, after parking my scooter, I went to a nearby newsagent shop and bought a copy of another local paper (the Flintshire Leader), a copy of the Daily Mirror and a copy of The Guardian . . . and a packet of cigarettes. I went straightContinue reading “A new day – a new beginning?”
Time for a break
That first morning at the office in Holywell was quite a drag and enough to put some people off journalism for life. Halfway through the morning we had a coffee break and decided to switch subjects. Delwyn took the wedding reports (how many people can get married over one weekend?) and I took the obituariesContinue reading “Time for a break”
In the beginning
In 1967, while I was still too young to have driving lessons, I bought a secondhand Lambretta scooter to get to college and back and be able to get around at the weekends. I will set things straight, here and now, I was NOT a mod and I was NOT a rocker. I bought theContinue reading “In the beginning”
How time flies
Time can play funny tricks with your memory. For instance I know I started at Kelsterton College in September 1966. I thought that I completed the college year the following June or possibly early July. That would mean I started work (yes I actually got a job very quickly) some time in July or AugustContinue reading “How time flies”
Robin's Nest 