April 2007 Archives

There is an air of celebration at Gazette House today - and it's not over this week's newslist (which is not really that bad!).

It's all do with football and the fact that Hayes reporter John Hughill is on cloud nine after his beloved Sunderland were promoted back to the Premiership at the weekend.

And there is further joy for our chief reporter Chris Longhurst, who is an avid Manchester United fan and is now relishing the prospects of a Premiership title after the weekend's results.

However, I am never too sure where his true colours lie as he also claims to support Brentford and Harrow Borough, although there is not much chance of winning any trophies at the moment with those two teams. I suggest he sticks to the Red Devils.

Back to the real focus of the week and the Gazette is shaping up well with one of the more quirky stories being Hillingdon's bid to get on the Monopoly board.

Council leader Ray Puddifoot is spearheading the bid to get locals to vote for a spot on the new Monopoly Here and No UK edition, which is produced by Hasbro who are based in the borough at Stockley Park.

There already appears to be stiff opposition as a quick look at the Monopoly website reveals that Exeter currently leads the way with 4172 votes followed by Keele (3661), Stoke on Trent (3066) and Shrewsbury (2947).

You still have another 25 days to start registering your votes for Hillingdon so my advice is get voting now - it sounds a bit more exciting than this week's local council elections in certain parts of the country.

to register your vote go to: http://www.monopoly.co.uk and follow the relevant links.

It looks like a busy day ahead with meetings planned for this morning and afternoon.

First meeting on the agenda is to discuss content and design for the next Exclusively Yours glossy lifestyle magazine which we produce quarterly and goes out free with the Gazette.

These meetings always tend to be 'interesting' as members of the advertisement team usually have their own ideas on what type of content they want in the magazine, and these sometimes differ to my views on what should be included.

We usually come to a 'happy compromise' but it can take several hours of debate so I am expecting a long and lively meeting this morning.

There will hopefully then just be time for a quick 'heads up' on the early newslist for next week's Gazette before heading into another meeting with my fellow editors from our other West London and Bucks papers.

These meetings are usually more 'sedate' affairs but extremely productive.We will discuss the current circulation trends for the papers with our newspaper sales manager Debbie; look at new content initiatives for the titles and share ideas that have worked or, in some cases might not been so successful.

We will also all have our usual moans and groans, including the production editor's usual gripes about incorrect picture captions and failure to adhere to the style book, but finish up as one happy family with the sole intention of producing the best possible papers for our readers week in week out.

As I have been on a bit of a nostalgia trip this week I thought I would share this great piece of British comedy in the form of a Monty Python sketch with you.

Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Monty Phython Climbing the North Face of the Uxbridge Road.

I have just seen the sad news that England World Cup winning hero Alan Ball has died of a heart attack at the age of 61.

Ball was the kind of player much admired by football fans across the country no matter which club you supported and no one can ever forget the contribution he made to England's World Cup winning side in 1966.

My own memory of Ball is of 'chasing' him around Maidenhead town centre as a young boy in a bid to get his autograph.

If memory serves me right he had recently signed for Arsenal and to my surprise I spotted him out shopping with his late wife Leslie in Maidenhead.

At first my friend and me were too shy to go and ask him for his autograph and then faced another problem in that we didn't actually have anything for him to sign.

My friend was dispatched to purchase a notebook and pen while I kept track of Ball's movements until we actually plucked up the courage to get his autograph. He duly signed and even took the time and trouble to chat to us for a couple of minutes.

Fond memories of a truly great footballer and character who will be missed by the world of sport today.

Our chief reporter Chris Longhurst is a world record breaker - and that's official.

Fresh from his weekend birthday bash in sunny Bournemouth he hot-footed it to Trafalgar Square yesterday to take part in the world record attempt for the most people playing in a coconut orchestra.

And, along with his sister Kate, he was one of 4,382 people who took part and became world record beaters.

Amazingly the previous record, and yes there actually was one to break, was made by the cast of the hit comedy musical Monty Python's Spamalot in America on March 22 last year when 1,789 people were involved.

So Chris can now proudly look through the Guinness World Records Book and see his record breaking efforts listed under 'The Most People Playing Coconuts Simultaneously.'

After his efforts a delighted Chris said : "I've never been part of any world record attempt before and although this one isn't as impressive as running a four minute mile or finding the world's largest diamond I'm proud to have taken part."

So will there be a heroes welcome in the newsroom for the Gazette's own world record breaker when he returns tomorrow - no just a coconut on his desk!.

You can read the full story on the record breaking efforts on our homepage.

The record breaking attempt in Trafalgar Square yesterday.

It seems that nostalgia is filling my thoughts at the moment ....

Yesterday it was the Sex Pistols and today it's the ZX Spectrum computer. For those of you old enough to remember (and yes I can) it was launched by Sir Clive Sinclair and at the time it was heralded as a revolution and ignited the the home computer age in this country.

My reason for my reminisce over the Spectrum is that it is 25 years since it first appeared on the British market and although people would laugh at it now I do have some happy memories of this iconic piece of technology.

I remember buying my son and daughter a second hand one and watching the enjoyment they got, and me for that matter, from those early computer games like Pit Stop and Impossible Mission.

Sadly time overtook Sir Clive's range of computers but they will long live in the memory of many of us even to the extent that a number of websites are dedicated to the machine including http://www.worldofspectrum.org.

Back to reality and this week's Gazette is shaping up nicely and it looks like we have a really strong lead for the Uxbridge and Hayes editions following some excellent work by reporter John Hughill.

We also have a feature on readers' hitting back at the survey (see previous blog) which placed Hillingdon as one of the worst places in the country to bring up a family.

They certainly agree with my sentiments that the survey is nothing more than a joke but one that I believe needs to be highlighted in this week's paper. I feel that as the local paid-for paper for borough we should defend it at every opportunity when it's unfairly criticised nationally.

Interestingly a fellow editor, and close colleague, not a million miles down the road thought the survey was so flawed that it did not warrant any column inches in his paper and was only fit for the rubbish bin!.

Do you often wonder what ever happened to pop stars from years gone by?

I must admit I am fascinated reading about what has become of once famous people from all walks of life.

I have just been reading through this week's pages of the guide section of the Gazette and came across an interesting feature on one of the former members of the Sex Pistols band (no I was never a fan myself).

Glen Matlock was the orginal bass player of the hell raising 70s band and, is still going strong after surviving the manic years with the group who shocked the pop world at the time with their antics.

These days Glen leads a more sedate life with his band The Phillistines and he his coming to Ruislip Golf Centre this coming Sunday (29th) to perform a solo acoustic show.

He also wrote his account of his life with the band entitled 'I Was A Teenage Sex Pistol' and his interview in this week's Gazette is well worth reading, Sex Pistol fan or not.

On the news front things are shaping up quite nicely at the moment and it looks like we will have strong leads for all four edition fronts.

We have the usual mix of hard news and human interest stories, including a real cracker for page three on which I will go into more detail later.

It's a bit of a struggle for the newsdesk today as chief reporter Chris Longhurst is still recovering from his birthday bash weekend in Bournemouth (he did book the day off) and our community reporter Barbara Fisher has broken her foot - leaving us a bit thin on the ground.

It's hard to take some of the surveys that seem to appear almost daily seriously anymore.

Take for example the latest one published this week by the Reader's Digest which names the 'worst' places in Britain to bring up a family.

Reading (408th) tops the list as the worst place and not far behind comes Hillingdon in 398th place below neighbouring boroughs of Harrow (156) and Ealing (319) with Oxford in 399th place.

The survey was based on asking parents to list the things that make for a family-friendly environment taking into account crime rates, good local hospitals and affordable housing.

One really has to question this latest survey because while Hillingdon may have its faults it certainly is not one of the worst places in the country to live in. I can think of far worst places, like Stranraer and Plymouth to name a few, although perhaps they have improved since I last visited!

I was equally staggered that Reading topped the list. Having previously been editor of the Reading Chronicle I have considerable knowledge of the town which sits in the affluent Thames Valley commuter belt and, in my opinion, has some excellent family orientated facilities, not to mention two universities and a rapidly rising football team (although that may have nothing to do with the survey otherwise I suppose Manchester might be the best place to live in).

We will certainly be getting plenty of local reaction to Hillingdon's 'poor performance' in the survey and covering it in detail in next week's Gazette.

One person who I know will have plenty to say on the matter is our regular Gazette columnist Cathy Ranson, who is also editor of Sunshine Magazine, the local community magazine for families living in Hillingdon.

I suspect she may have more rants than raves in next week's paper.

For those interested the Scottish district of East Dunbartonshire was named the best place to live in.

Ruislip Lido, one of many popular family attractions in the borough.

I have just returned from a meeting with some of the key members of Hillingdon Sports Council, which proved interesting and informative.

The organisation has been in existance for 40 years working actively to promote sport in the borough and they are keen to raise their profile and have a greater voice in the overall strategy of sport in the borough.

I have to admit that before my meeting I was not fully aware of the role Hillingdon Sports Council played and I suspect that there are a number of sporting organisations in the borough who likewise are not total aware of their involvement.

One of their aims is to get more sports represented Hillingdon Sports Council - which has a wealth of experience and sporting knowledge.

They are also keen to ensure that more youngsters get involved in organised sport within the borough - recent statistics show that getting young people involved in sport can lead to a reduction in youth crime.

One thing that became clear from my meeting is that sport is just not abour producing gold medal winners and national champions but is also about encouraging people to get actively involved in joining the various clubs that exists across the borough.

While we may all be excited about the prospect of the 2012 Olympics in London it must be remembered that sport is not just about producing Olympic champions - it's also about participation at what ever level you get the most enjoyment out of.

I am back again - well at least on my own computer.

No, I was not one of the thousands of people who called in sick yesterday to take their place in the wonderful sunny weather we have been experiencing over the last few days.

My excuse for the lack of an entry yesterday after my Easter break was that our sports editor is unexpectedly off this week and I have had to step in at the last minute to do the Gazette's sports pages.

Thankfully I have just managed to hit deadline but my time over the last two days has been taken up sorting out things like table tennis results and writing about the chances of Hayes avoiding relegation from the Nationwide Conference this season.

This has meant that I have not really been involved in the news side of things for this week's Gazette but, having just had a look through the completed pages it looks like another good edition with some particularly strong front pages.

Perhaps the newsdesk would be happier if I was doing sport every week....

After my week's holiday I now have a mountain of things to catch up on so apologies for the rather short entry today but, things will get back to normal over the coming days.