July 2007 Archives

I had a very enjoyable farewell lunch yesterday with Uxbridge College Principal Rachel Davies, who is shortly to take up a similar post at Taunton College.

Rachel has always impressed me in her extremely demanding role at the College and from a personal point of view I will be sorry to see her leave Uxbridge.

In recent years the Gazette has worked closely with the College on a number of projects the most high profile being our annual Local Heroes Awards, which the college sponsor.

It was through Rachel's enthusiasm and support for these awards that they were launched by the Gazette some five years ago and they have continue to grow in strength and stature since then.

Infact in the next couple of months or so we will be launching the 2007 Local Heroes Awards in the Gazette and I am delighted that the College will once again be sponsoring them.

During Rachel's time at Uxbridge College it has gone from strength to strength both academically and in terms of the facilities it now offers. She has also been involved in a number of other activities in the borough outside of the college and I am sure that many people will agree that her drive and enthusiasm will be missed.

I wish her well in her new job in Somerset.

Luckily Uxbridge escaped the terrible floods which have hit large parts of the country in recent days causing devastation and misery for thousands of people.

I have to say this summer is turning out to be the worst I can remember - it's thoroughy miserable and a complete washout.

It seems this view is being taken by many residents in the borough judging by the large queue I noticed at a Bureau de change in the town centre earlier today.

I bet travel agents are also rubbing their hands with glee as people seek a late getaway in the sun rather than endure a sodden week on a deserted British beach.

Two things over the weekend somewhat lifted my gloom from the despressing weather and the fact the barbeque yet again remained covered from the elements.

One was the return of Murray Walker to the microphone for the European Grand Prix. Even at the ripe old age of 83-years-old the man is still a genius, and his commentary on Radio Five Live on Sunday was vintage stuff.

This was followed by the most exciting finish to the Open Championship at Carnoustie for many a year and an emotional victory for Padraig Harrington. This was golf at its very best and kept me glued to the television for more hours than I dare to think.

Back to the weather and we will be looking at the affect it is having on people across the borough in this week's Gazette, which is starting to take shape on what is another relatively slow news week.

The schools are breaking up and it's like the middle of winter outside - pitch black and raining cats and dogs - it must be the summer holidays.

This weekend promises to be the great getaway and many face the prospect of hanging around for hours in airport terminals or sitting in queues of traffic on the nation's motorways being asked the familar question ' how long before we get there.'

Luckily with my kids having grown up and flown the nest I can plan my breaks well away from school holidays and travel in less stressful circumstances - and generally it's cheaper.

The start of the school summer holidays also usually heralds what is know as the 'silly season' for newspaper as the news dries up and we resort to running stories about giant sunflowers and heatwaves - some chance on both counts this year.

In recent years we have not really endured the 'silly season' at the Gazette and late July and August have been particularly busy times on the news front.

However, the last few weeks have been relatively quiet on the story front and I am gearing myself up for some 'silly season' stories over the next few weeks, although I am sure the newsdesk will prove me wrong.

Yesterday I held a meeting with my fellow editors on our west London and Bucks titles and at the very time that the schools are breaking up we were discussing plans for the highly popular first day at school supplements that we run in our papers in late September.

It seems strange to be looking so far ahead but putting these supplements together is something of a military operation and past experience has told me that they need to be planned out several months in advance.

One of the other topics of conversation, on a less serious note, was the chances of our Ealing editor Shuz Azam seeing any play on his annual visit to Lord's today for the Test match.
The general opinion was that he would be spending the best part of the day in the bar - and looking at the weather right now I think we may have all been right!

Predicting newspaper sales can sometimes be like the current weather we are experiencing - you don't know what is going to happen next.

The most recent weekly figures I have just received for the Gazette show a drop from the previous week's sales on an edition that both myself and content editor David Tilley thought would have really strong sales - that just does to show what we know!

However, at times the sales of newspapers can be a bit of a minefield and a whole host of factors can affect the figures.

The weather -which seems to be the main daily topic of conversation these days at Gazette House - can often play a big part in dictating weekly sales.

If you get a really hot spell then people are too busy heading for the seaside or some other attraction and if it's pouring with rain they can't be bothered to go outside. Either way, they don't tend to go to the shops and buy a paper.

A colleague of mine has the theory that slightly overcast is the kind of weather us editors like most when it comes to encouraging newspaper sales.

Well, all I can say about the latest figures is that it was for a change reasonably sunny and hot that week so perhaps his theory is right after all. Anyway, it's one that I will use to explain the slightly disappointing figures.

And with the sun blazing down again today, when the Gazette goes on sale, I might get away with using the same excuse again if this week's figures don't pick up.

Apologies for the lack of postings over the last few days but as I hinted earlier in the week it has been a rather busy time at Gazette House.

Apart from the normal day-to-day business I have been involved with the launch of a Polish edition of our sister paper the Ealing Gazette.

The first edition of Polska Gazeta is due to hit the streets tomorrow in the Ealing area and will give the local Polish community dedicated local news in their own language together with some of the latest national news from their homeland.

It has certainly been interesting looking at the completed pages of the Polska Gazeta edition and I was particularly pleased with how striking the front page looks. I have to admit that I can only go on appearances as my knowledge of the Polish language is non-existent, although in time I might get to pick up the odd few words.

We have worked closely with the Polish Daily News paper, which is based in Shpeherd's Bush, on the project and they are translating the all the local news into Polish as well as supplying us with the national news from Poland.

Hopefully week one will be the start of a successful life for the new edition and it will be well received by the Polish community in Ealing.

I can now turn my attention to the Uxbridge Gazette and start looking at what we have got planned for next week's edition. Things are currently looking reasonably healthy and we have several good stories already in the bag but, it still early days and a lot can change between now and next Tuesday.

It's been a bit of a struggle but this week's Gazette is finally finished and after a slow start things finally came together in the end.

Already it looks like it's going to be one of those weeks and the glorious weekend weather and a wonderful day in the sun at the Hampton Court Flower Show on Saturday is already a distant memory.

Apart from keeping a watchful eye on the Gazette it's pretty much all hands to the pump at the moment in Gazette House. Holidays and illness has reduced our pool of sub editors in the very week that one of our sister papers is launching a new edition (more about that later in the week) which will increase the workload on our production team based in Uxbridge.

I have been heavily involved in the project involving the new edition so need to make sure there are no last minute hitches this week, especially as its due out on Friday the 13th... and yes the launch date was my suggestion.

With the sports editors on our Harrow and Ealing titles also away on holiday anyone with any knowledge of cricket or bowls is currently pitching in to help with their pages and to complete the headache Victoria, our features editor on the Gazette, is currently in the middle of a two week stint of jury service.

However, as usual everyone is pulling together and rising to the challenge and turning their hand to what ever needs to be done next and although it promises to be a long hard week ww will get there in the end.

It might be relatively quiet on the news front this week but it appears Uxbridge has been struck by a sales frenzy.

The depressing recent summer weather seems to have prompted many of the town's shops to stick up the sale signs in a bid to clear large stocks of summer items.

And despite predictions of a less than scorching summer ahead this does not seem to have detered hordes of people from seeking out a bargain.

Today Uxbridge town centre is positively buzzing with shoppers and most of them appear to be snapping up a bargain or two. It seems that the thinking is it will always do for next summer if we don't get the weather this year!

However, it does seem that we may at long last get a half decent weekend which will suit my arrangements just fine.

I am off to the Hampton Court Flower Show tomorrow and then intend getting to grips with my own garden on Sunday before hopefully catching a bit of the Wimbledon men's final - accompanied by a cold beer and bowl of strawberries and cream.

It certainly promises to a great weekend for sporting fans with the Tour de France coming to London, the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, the deciding one-day cricket international between England and the West Indies and of course Wimbledon.

So, if you don't fancy heading for the shops and a bargain you can stay at home and watch virtually uninterupted sport on the television all weekend.

Hope you have a good weekend and enjoy what ever you have got planned.

My interest in Wimbledon has long since gone - I just feel sorry for those poor souls sitting there with nothing to watch but the rain falling.

It seems that the weather is the main topic of conversation at the moment in Gazette House and gloomy predictions of this summer being a complete wash-out have hardly lifted spirits.

Last night I was 'attacked' by giant hailstones as I left our Ealing office and then endured a nightmare journey home along the M25 in thunder, lightning and torrential rain.

There seems little hope now for my crop of stawberries and tomatoes which started out so promisingly but now are just a sad soggy sight - oh well I suppose there is always next year.

I am due to go to the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show this weekend and it looks like I will have to hunt out my wellington boots and raincoat if the forecast is anything to go by. Yes, even the weather is starting to get me down.

On a slightly brighter note the newslist for next week's Gazette is already starting to look a lot brighter than the week just gone by, which was not the strongest paper we have produced on the hard news front.

We already have several promising stories in the pipeline and with the traditional 'silly season' fast approaching we will be looking to put out some strong editions over the next few weeks before half the population of Hillingdon head off for their holidays - I just hope they are not planning to spend two weeks on a sun baked beach in this country!

I am back from my holiday and as usual it already seems a distant blur.

After spending a large part of yesterday wading through more than a week's emails I can finally divert my attentions to this week's Gazette.

I have to say it's fairly quiet on the news front this week but the paper is starting to take shape and over the next few hours we will be concentrating our efforts on the front end news pages.

This week's paper will include an eight page picture special of primary school classes from across the borough who will shortly be moving up to secondary schools.

I am fairly confident that this will prove extremely popular and hopefully increase sales of this week's Gazette across the board.

As for my holiday in Devon, it was slightly soggy at times but still extremely enjoyable and it was nice to live life at a different pace for a few days and get away from the rat race of west London and the M25 traffic.