November 2006 Archives

I have just returned from an enjoyable lunch with Rachel Davies, principal of Uxbridge College and their PR guru Liz Bellchambers.

We slipped across the border to the Swan in Denham Village to meet up and I can thoroughly recommend this excellent hostelry for a spot of lunch.

Main topic of conversation was our Local Heroes Awards, of which the College have been generous supporters since we launched the awards four years ago. They are one of the highlights of the year for the Gazette and they are now reaching an exciting stage.

Entries for this year have closed and we are busy coming up with a shortlist in the six categories for final judging next month. Once again we have been overwhelmed with the response we have received and there are many inspirational and heart touching stories - some of which we have been featuring weekly in the Gazette.

We are now busy planning the awards gala evening on January 18 at Hayes Campus when the winners will be announced and once again it promises to be a spectacular night for all concerned.

The lunch also provided a welcome relief from a day of catching up on paperwork and email overload - it's amazing how after just one day out of the office your inbox is at breaking point!.

It was also good to see Liz again who before 'defecting' to the College earlier this year was my Content Editor at the Gazette and a staunch supporter of the Local Heroes awards.

Just time for a couple of quick cups of strong coffee to wake me up and check through my emails before I head off for Canary Wharf today.

Editors from across the Trinity Mirror Regional newspapers are gathering in Canary Wharf for our quarterly meeting. I have arranged to meet my colleague Ian Carter from the Croydon Advertiser for a quick coffee before the meeting to get us in the mood for a long day ahead. By the way Ian also produces a daily blog which is well worth reading http://www.croydonadvertiser.co.uk - that's another fiver you owe me mate!.

One thing that always impresses me about having a meeting on the 21st floor of Canary Wharf is the spectacular view across London - I am not sure the view from Gazette House and the Uxbridge skyline can quite compete with it.

However, I will be glad to get back to Uxbridge tomorrow to catch up on how the news list is shaping up for next week's papers. I hope that content editor David Tilley has some cracking stories to share with me - I will let you know tomorrow.

After my rant last week about the state of Uxbridge town centre during the current improvements I have been reliably informed they will be completed by the end of the month.

Well that gives them three days in my book to finish to work and rid the town centre of a building site. It's going to a close call as having just returned from my 'High Street patrol' there is still plenty of rubble to be navigated, dust to be inhaled and noise to be endured.

There does, however, seem to be a new urgency amongst the army of workmen on the project - perhaps they read my blog last week and decided they better get a move on!.

I also note with interest that the giant stone balls by the entrance to the Mall Pavilions now have 'soft' blue lights placed around them. I wonder how long it will be before after a few drinks someone calls the newsdesk to tells us aliens have landed in Uxbridge town centre!.

Anyway, I will be watching with interest on Friday to check the work has been completed and that the town centre is restored to its natural beauty.

PS: I am not against the improvements in the town centre and I actually believe they will make it more attractive - I just can't understand why it has taken so long.......

It's been the usual frantic Tuesday morning at Gazette House as we put the finishing touches to this week's papers.

After a slightly slow start on the news front and more staff shortages I am pleased with how this week's editions have finally turned out. We again have a number of really strong stories including some festive cheer for the victims of the Fairpak collapse and how a mum saved her young son from nearly drowning when he fell down an uncovered manhole.

For the second week running Hillingdon Hospital has come under fire and we are splashing with this story in the Uxbridge edition while we have introduced a new feature which will highlight how traders across the borough are faring in the run up to Christmas.

With our sports editor Scott still on holiday I have again come off the subs' bench to help finish off the sports pages. I will be glad when he returns next week and I can revert to being a 'non-playing' substitute again. Still at least they beaten the deadline for the last two weeks - with a few hours to spare!.

We are now just sending the final news pages to our pre-press department so hopefully there will be no last minute disasters and you can look forward to seeing your Gazette on the streets tomorrow morning.

Where has the weekend gone .... it seems only five minutes ago I was rushing off on Friday afternoon for a meeting at our training centre in Egham and here I am again back at my computer.

It promises to be another busy Monday at Gazette House although I am not sure it can beat the hustle and bustle I encountered at Ikea in Croydon yesterday.

I rather hastily promised to accompany my daughter to the store on a mission to get some furniture for the new house she is shortly due to move into. I rather foolishly thought people would be too busy worrying about Christmas shopping in the town centres than flocking to Ikea -how wrong I was.

The place was packed and five hours later and loaded up with everything but the kitchen sink we finally escaped - I have come back to work for a rest!

Back to the serious business of this week's papers and after a slow start the news agenda is now looking extremely busy and it's going to be a juggling act trying to get everything in. I will be catching up with content editor David Tilley shortly as we start to plan the major news pages and work on the front page splashes for our four editions.

Yesterday Thailand today China.

Just received this important email: BEIJING, Nov. 24 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Hurray! Holding Co., Ltd.
(Nasdaq: HRAY), a leader in wireless music distribution and other wireless value-added services, artist development and music production, and wireless value-added services management software in China, today announced it has been named 2006 Technology Fast 50 Companies in China by Deloitte, with revenue growth of 169.75% over the past three years.
    (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050314/CNM005LOGO )

I really can't work out for the life of me why readers of the Gazette would be the least bit interested in this news - unless I am completely failing in my duties of knowing what our readers want!

Probably, like me, when it comes to the Chinese your main interest extends to a takeaway menue and what you are going to order tonight - but then I could always be wrong!.

A long hard week is coming to an end but there's still plenty to do today as we start cranking up the news agenda for next week's papers.

It's been a bit of a slow start on the news front but we are working on several strong stories - one including a particularly nasty attack on a local councillor while he was out in London. The news list for the Hayes edition also has some good looking stories at this stage and it looks like our reporter for that area John Hughill is in for a busy few days.

I am also looking forward to reading Chene's Koscielny's hard-hitting Working Mum's Diary for this week's paper. She is nothing but controversial in her views and her column has been a great addition to the paper.

Finally, it was a depressing drive into work this morning through the gloom on the M25 as the England wickets started to tumble. I promised you I would remain optimistic over our chances but that optimism rapidly fading - and Ashes fever at Gazette House is sinking fast.

It's good to know that there is someone out their reading my blog - even if perhaps they are the only one!

An old colleague from my days when I was editor of the Bracknell News saw the blog in Thailand of all places and has been in touch (see comments below).

It's always good to find out what former colleagues you have lost touch with over the years are now doing and it often brings memories flooding back of the times you spent working with them.

Only last weekend the football club I spent more than 20 years playing for held a reunion to celebrate its 50th anniversary - no I did not play in the first match.

Again it was great to meet up with old friends who I had not seen for many years and within minutes we were recalling the many memorable matches we played in and recalling some of the more hilarious moments we encountered. I will not embarrass anyone in case they read this but suffice to say there are some truly wonderful tales I could recount .....

It's the twilight zone and parts of Uxbridge town centre glisten and glitter as the festive season approaches - but have you noticed that the hub of the town still resembles a building site.

Shoppers are greeted by rubble, dirt, dust, noise and unsightly barricades as they start the month long Christmas present hunt.

The improvements to the town centre are all well and good but the timing is quite frankly awful.

It seems to me a massive own goal has been scored in that the work around the centre of the town is still not finished at this vital time of the year for traders. The current unsightly mess hardly encourages shoppers or puts them in a festive mood as they trudge around the High Street looking for Auntie Mabel and Uncle Tom's presents.

The sparkling town centre Christmas tree looks a forlorn sight clouded by a haze of dust and surrounded by piles of bricks - which shoppers have to navigate as they go about their daily present hunting.

I am sure it will all look wonderful WHEN it's completed but surely the summer was the time to get this work done and dusted and not during cold, wet blustery days in the run up to Christmas.

PS: It's only day one but already my fears for England in the Ashes battle are starting to ring true. As I look at my computer Australia are 317 for 3 and Pietersen is bowling! - not the start we were hoping for. I will continue to remain optimistic for the time being but I am not sure there will be a great deal of Ashes fever in Gazette House this morning. Bring back Monty!.

I expect there will be some bleary eyed shaggy haired staff - nothing new there - over the coming days as Ashes fever grips the newsroom in Gazette House.

Apart from this week's excellent papers - now safely on the streets - it is now the main topic of conversation with expectations high for our boys.

I am not sure how our Australian sub editor Steph is going to cope over the coming days as we whip her boys!. If only I was that confident this will be the case - I have this nagging doubt that it is all going to go horribly wrong 'Down Under' this time.

But for the next 24 hours I will remain optimistic. Come on England you can do it!

And if you are reading this Duncan be bold and pick Monty...