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December 20, 2006
Driving home for Christmas
1. John and Chris are safely back from their ice skating experience in Hayes - they gave a virtuoso performance
2. The sales have started - when did they ever end!
3. The charity chuggers are back in Uxbridge town centre - let's hope they are gone by the start of 2007
4. The Gazette edition of December 27 is almost finished - you can look forward to more cracking papers in 2007
5. For those of you still waiting for your Christmas card from me - it's in the post
6. It's manic on the streets of Uxbridge - well I suppose it's Christmas
This is my last blog of 2006 as I will shortly, as the Chris Rea classic goes, be 'Driving home for Christmas.'
To my many, many, many, many (well you can always kid yourself) blog readers have a great Christmas and Happy New Year.
I will be back on January 2 with my first blog of 2007.
Posted by aseal at 4:13 PM | Comments (1)
Skating on thin ice
It appears the festive spirit has finally taken over at Gazette House .....
Yesterday afternoon a magician turned up in the office - where he came from I have not got a clue - but there he was performing his tricks to an appreciative audience in the advertising department, who seemed spellbound by his skills.
However, the newsroom failed to conjure up any great enthusiasm for some magic which, was something of a relief, as I did not want the reporters busy working on next week's edition vanishing in a puff of smoke.
The real talk of the newsroom is the opening of the ice rink in Hayes today. This is a really innovative idea by the Hayes Town Centre Partnership and I am sure it will prove highly popular over the next few days - especially as we now have just the weather for skating.
It appears we have some budding skaters amongst the Gazette news team and John Hughill and Chris Berry will be displaying their talents on the ice later today - will be well worth watching!
What slightly concerns me if having survived the magician's attempts to spirit away some of my staff will John and Chris survive the ice fields of Hayes. Watch this space......
Posted by aseal at 7:52 AM | Comments (0)
December 19, 2006
Clamping misery
We receive lots of phone calls and emails from readers with potential stories but one that has really caught my eye has just arrived.
A woman tells of her clamping misery and subsequent anger with a local restaurant (which for the time being will remain nameless) and the clamping company.
On the face of it she seems to have been dealt a harsh deal and it has cost her a vast amount of money, which she can probably ill afford, to get her car back.
There are occasions when motorists possibly fully deserve to get clamped but these seem to be far outweighed by horror stories of 'unscrupulous' clamping companies demanding excessive amounts of money for the return of the vehicle.
If you have a clamping horror story you want to share then contact me and in the meantime we will be looking in to the woman's plight with a view to running a story in the Gazette.
Posted by aseal at 4:33 PM | Comments (0)
Lotta bottle
One of the stranger stories to hit the newsdesk this year came in yesterday afternoon - unfortunately just too late for this week's earlier than normal deadline.
It appears there is a milk thief on the loose in Hillingdon who to date has stolen more than 60 pints from the doorsteps of local residents.
The story understandably raised the level of newsroom banter with comments like 'they have got a lotta bottle' although I am not sure people getting up for their early morning cuppa and finding their milk has been stolen find it quite so funny!
Anyway, we will be covering this story in more detail in the next week's edition of the Gazette which we have already started work on having only just put to bed this week's paper, which is out as normal tomorrow morning.
Posted by aseal at 7:26 AM | Comments (0)
December 18, 2006
Shopping frenzy
So the tills are not ringing in the shops this Christmas - well you could have fooled me.
After battling through the crowds yesterday - 20 minutes to queue and pay for some cards - either people are doing a lot of window shopping or someone is having us on. Perhaps it's just a ploy to make us all feel guilty that we have not spent enough on presents already and need to rush out and get some more gifts!
Well at least the Christmas tree is up at home and the lights are shining brightly outside and a glass of mulled wine helped take away some of the stress of the Christmas shopping.
Talking of stress it's going to be a busy day at Gazette House as we race to get this week's edition completed by lunchtime. Considering it's Christmas week we have a strong news agenda and a really lively paper, which will be out on the streets on Wednesday as normal.
Posted by aseal at 8:26 AM | Comments (0)
December 15, 2006
Late arrival
It's been one of those days.
Things got off to a bad start with a 6.30am puncture and then a two hour wait for some nice man to put the spare tyre on - when it comes to anything remotely mechanical I am hopeless.
I don't know what was worse sitting in the dark waiting or listening to the clatter of England wickets and then the Aussies plundering our bowling attack - I think the cricket wins.
A further hour getting new tyres fitted and I finally arrived at the office some four hours later than anticipated.
However, this week's Gazette is coming together and we will be featuring heavily on the Government decision to back the expansion at Heathrow Airport with a third runway.
This threatens to wipe out more than 700 homes in and around the village of Sipson alone, and the environmental impact on parts of the borough could be massive.
We will be featuring heavily on reaction to the news from campaigners who have been fighting a long battle against the proposed third runway.
As part of our festive coverage we have been talking to people who live and work at RAF Northolt whose partners are serving their country thousands of miles away on how they will be spending their Christmas.
Meanwhile reporter John Hughill has been spending a few days out on the road with Father Christmas and getting a few tips of the trade. It's all building up to a cracking edition.
Posted by aseal at 12:25 PM | Comments (2)
December 14, 2006
Tight deadlines
A bit like the cash tills in the High Street shops this is a particularly busy time for newspapers.
While some other busnesses might be slowing down for Christmas at the Gazette it's full steam ahead for what promises to be a hectic week or so.
Both the Gazette and its sister free newspaper the Leader print 52 weeks of the year and while the paginations of the papers might be smaller than normal we have far less time to get them out.
We have to finish the Gazette 24 hours earlier next week on Monday lunchtime and then have the following weeks edition completed by the Friday morning.
And while our pre-press manager can usually be sweet talked when it comes to deadlines on this occasion he is showing little festive cheer by making it clear our pages much reach him on time. Even the tempting offer of a bottle of his favourite red wine has so fallen on deaf ears when it comes to deadlines.
Posted by aseal at 2:42 PM | Comments (0)
December 13, 2006
They're all heroes
The judging for our Local Heroes 2006 awards has now been completed and I have to say that once again there were some fantastic entries.
It's always difficult for the judges - which this year included Rachel Davies, principal of Uxbridge College and the Mayor of Hillingdon David Routledge - but generally we were all in agreement on the winners in the various categories.
Everyone is now sworn to secrecy until the gala finals night on January 18 when the winners will be announced and presented with their awards - it promises to be another fantastic evening celebrating the local heroes in the borough.
On the subject of Kelvin Mackenzie and my previous blog it seems that the poor Granada producer is still struggling to find him an editor's post. He has been on to my collegue at the Reading Chronicle for a second time and met with the same reply - a resounding NO.
Posted by aseal at 3:22 PM | Comments (0)
No job for Kelvin
I had an interesting call yesterday from a Granada TV executive producer wondering whether he could parachute (ex-Sun editor) Kelvin MacKenzie into our office as a 'consultant editor' for two months and see what happens.
It's a fascinating idea and I am sure that Kelvin would have some interesting thoughts on the Gazette and how he could boost its circulation - not that it's doing badly. However, I politely declined the offer - I am not sure I could cope with the disruption or vouch for the sanity of my team after the two months.
However, it also seems that the Gazette may not have been Kelvin's first choice for a 'new job' as the previous day he had contacted my colleague at the Reading Chronicle http://www.readingchronicle.co.uk Simon Jones with the same offer. He also politely turned the invitation down.
A large chunk of today will be spent carrying out the highly enjoyable task of judging the shortlisted finalists for our Local Heroes 2006 Awards, run in conjunction with Uxbridge College. It's never an easy task and once again entries have flooded in and there are some truly amazing stories to look at.
I will let you know later in the day how the judging went - although I am sworn to secrecy on revealing the winners before the big night on January 18 when the awards will be made.
Footnote: It appears Kelvin is still searching for a taker as my colleague Ian Carter at the Croydon Advertiser http://www.croydonadvertiser.co.uk has also rubbished the idea of letting him loose in his newsroom.
Posted by aseal at 7:17 AM | Comments (0)
December 12, 2006
One of Santa's helpers
Well we got there in the end and the final pages are now safely with our pre-press department.
Unlike previous weeks we have not had any late breaking stories but staff shortages have slowed us down today and the subs have been chasing the newsdesk for pages - it's always fun listening to these conversations and the various excuses.
We finally splashed on the story about the council tax bill reduction for many pensioners in the borough although judging by some of the reaction we have got it seems that there is a fairly lukewarm response to the news. I think we will get plenty of comments on this story in the coming days.
Everyone can now take a well earned breather before we start work on next week's edition.
On the subject of staff shortages we were missing our chief reporter Chris Longhurst this week who is on holiday.
However, it appears he might be doing a bit of 'moonlighting'. He was spotted out in Eastcote last night by our office manager Lynne, who reported seeing Father Christmas and his helpers, one of whom was Chris, preparing for Christmas.
Now I don't think she had been on the sherry so I can only presume that has taken on a bit of part-time work over the festive season - although I am sure it's all for a good cause.
Posted by aseal at 2:09 PM | Comments (0)
Good news week
This week's Gazette is now shaping up and I would describe it as a 'good news' paper.
It's been a slow kind of news week and at the moment we are planning to splash on a story which should bring some cheer to many pensioners across the borough when they receive their next council tax bill.
Another good news story is how after the Gazette highlighted the plight of a homeless man he is now set to have accommodation for the festive season. And if you remember last week I told you about the seven week old Father Christmas - well it was true and I have just spotted a rather cute picture on page 22 of this week's edition.
We are also featuring the winners of our Let's Do It community awards which we ran with Barclays and it's a big week for the Gazette Local Heroes Awards as we will be judging the entries and drawing up the shortlist for the grand finals night next month.
There are still a lot of pages to complete for this week's edition so everyone will be working flat out this morning to ensure we hit our deadlines - so I think strong coffee will be the order of the day to keep everything on track.
Posted by aseal at 7:20 AM | Comments (0)
December 11, 2006
Chris ate all the pies
It seems my jibe about our photographers vast consumption of mince pies may have caused some strife in the Vandevelde household.
After his champion eating exploits last Christmas, Toby vowed to his wife to abstain from the said mince pies this festive season. It seems I may have blown his cover - although I am happy to put the record straight and report that not a crumb of mince pie has so far passed his lips.
And how do I know. Because chief photographer Chris Berry was also happy to put the record straight and confess he has also scoffed Toby's ration of mince pies!
It has also been noted that content editor David Tilley is also partial to the odd mince pie or 10. Well it is the festive season after all and I really don't begrudge my staff the odd crumb of comfort!
Posted by aseal at 12:42 PM | Comments (0)
Juggling act
This week it's going to be a real juggling act trying to get everything into the paper.
As Christmas fast approaches and the queues at the tills get longer the pagination of papers tend to drop as advertising slows up for the festive season. This usually means we have smaller papers but just as much content to get in.
This week is a typical example of that for the Gazette and we will have to be quite ruthless with the newslist on deciding exactly what we can fit in. A good case is the many nativiity plays and Christmas events our photographers Chris and Toby are currently rushing about all over the borough to cover - I have also noticed their expanding waistlines due to the mince pies they are obviously scoffing at each job they cover!
These pictures need to go in before Christmas - it's not a lot of good having a spread of natviity pictures in the New Year and the many children we feature will also be expecting to see their pictures in the Gazette over the next couple of weeks.
So it's going to be a tough couple of days trying to squeeze everything in and thats along with what has developed on the newslist over what I expect to have been a busy news weekend. I will keep you posted on how we get on later in the day.
Posted by aseal at 8:47 AM | Comments (0)
December 7, 2006
Misery for commuters
It may be only Thursday morning but already the newslist for next week's Gazette is looking healthy and the reporters are beavering away on a number of promising stories.
One story we will be featuring that will interest many commuters in the borough is the news that the Metropolitan Line is the worst when it comes to delays. We will be calculating how much time communters waste over the course of a year waiting for or sitting on delayed trains. It promises to be an interesting read and hopefully will create plenty of feedback from readers and some tales of their tube misery.
We are also planning an in-depth look at the borough's worst pickpocket spots - a crime that seems to escalate during the festive period. And of course, there will be plenty of round-ups on all the festive events currently taking place.
I will keep you updated over the next few days on how things are shaping up for next week - but at this early stage it looking like another promosing edition.
Posted by aseal at 7:31 AM | Comments (0)
December 6, 2006
Toy Wonderland
Did you know that the world's second largest toy company is based in the borough?
The European headquarters of Hasbro are in Stockley Park and we sent our news editor Chene and two cub reporters - well actually it was her two and four year old children - to explore this wonderland of Christmas toys. It was bad luck on the rest of the Gazette reporting team who were all eager to go along but were decreed to be over age.
It makes for a fascinating feature in this week's Gazette and I get the impression that Chene was just as taken with the toys as her children!
I was particularly amused by the headline that one of our subs came up with for the story: 'The laboratory where scientists are over the hill at six years old' - not saying that all the headlines written by the subs are not inspired.
The toy feature has contributed to be particularly lively edition of the Gazette this week with a great mix of stories, of which several are real talking points. It was a great effort by the team as once again a mixture of illness and holidays left us somewhat depleted on numbers and also having to cope with several late breaking stories.
And finally the story on the seven week old Father Christmas (see previous blogs) did not make this week's edition although content editor David Tilley has promised me it will appear next week - ho,ho,ho.
Posted by aseal at 12:58 PM | Comments (0)
Dreaming of Disneyland
Having safely seen of the final Gazette pages yesterday I dashed off to a meeting to discuss our readers' travel club.
Each week the Gazette, and its sister paper the Leader, features some great unique holiday offers for readers and these are becoming increasingly popular - they are well worth looking out for.
What always interests me about the meetings is to discover what are the most popular destinations with our readers. At the moment Disneyland Paris tops the charts while a surprising new entry is Come Dancing at Pakefield - no doubt on the back of the popular tv show 'Strictly Come Dancing.'
Anyway, after spending a few minutes dreaming of holiday destinations it's back to the real world of newspapers and lots of paperwork to catch up on, including ensuring that all our various contributors get paid in time for Christmas!
Posted by aseal at 8:18 AM | Comments (0)
December 5, 2006
Ashes success after all!
Perhaps it's not all doom and gloom after all - I have just been informed that the Great Britiain croquet team have won the Ashes series in New South Wales.
Apparently we gave the Aussies a real drubbing - so that should put a smile back on David Tilley's face and as for Steph: What's it like to be on the losing side?
Posted by aseal at 12:18 PM | Comments (0)
Ashes to Ashes
An air of doom and despondancy hangs high over Gazette House this morning following the debacle of England's Ashes defeat earlier.
Content editor David Tilley can hardly raise a smile and any Ashes fever that still existed has been firmly extinguished.
Any my own gloom has hardly been lifted by this note from our Australian sub Steph: I know I've shown little interest in the Ashes thus far... but I would be a disgrace to my housemate Steve (a cricket fanatic) if I didn't gloat to at least one English person today.
Woohoo!
That's it. I'll stop now!
I only wish a reply but really there is nothing left to say....
Posted by aseal at 10:24 AM | Comments (0)
Love is in the air
Love is in the air at Gazette House this week.
Our popular deputy production editor Richard Nadal is getting married on Saturday to Louise, who also happens to work in the Gazette's advertising department.
Richard started out as a reporter on the Gazette and then moved to our Reading papers before returning to Gazette House as a sub editor. It was then that love blossomed with Louise and now the happy couple are all set for their big day.
However, before Richard can polish up on his speech - and his shoes - he has the far more important task of helping to finish off the main Gazette pages for this week's papers.
It's looking like another strong edition with the tragic death of a vet followed by a callous act by thieves likely to be a big talking point in the Hayes paper. At the moment it looks like the lead story in the Uxbridge edition will be the trauma suffered by a mum and her young son at the hands of a bus driver.
I am still waiting to see the story on the seven week old baby dressed up as Father Christmas. Either the newsdesk is trying to wind me up or they have been on the sherry a bit too early in the festive season - only time will tell...
Posted by aseal at 7:16 AM | Comments (0)
December 4, 2006
Ho, ho, ho
Last week I half jokingly asked my production editor to count the number of pages he had seen with pictures of Father Christmas on - he politetly told me where to go.
Considering that apart from the Gazette more than 450 other pages are produced for various titles out of Gazette House it was not an unreasonable answer.
However, I have a feeling the Uxbridge newsdesk must have been listening in to the conversation and decided to get in the festive spirit. They have just informed me they are working on a story this week about a seven week old baby dressed up as Father Christmas - now it may be the 'silly season' but that sounds just ridiculous. I await further developments with interest and I hope they don't tell me the story is going to make a page lead.
I must admit I had a laugh to myself when I read my colleague Lindsay Coulson's Harrow Observer blog http://www.harrowobserver.co.uk and her tale of the picture of the black cat in last week's paper. The problem was that the picture was in black and white and the cat's owner had a black jumper on. I have sent her a note asking if she has launched a new 'spot the cat' competition in the Observer - I await her reply ...
Posted by aseal at 1:26 PM | Comments (0)