Thirty years ago last month, I walked into the bustling newsroom of the then Evening Echo in Basildon as a 17-year-old work experience girl.
What I lacked in confidence, I made up for in determination. Five months later, having given up a couple of days every week to learn everything and anything I could from the team, I received the phone call that was to really signal the start of my life.
The then editor, Bob Dimond, called me and said the magical words: “Do you want a job?”
A reporter had resigned and, having proven my worth over those weeks, no further interview was necessary. The trainee reporter job – which came with journalism training to boot – was mine.
Journalism college, 1997
I did not leave for seven years.
To this day, I am so grateful for the solid grounding the Echo gave me. A daily newspaper in a hard news area of Essex. Where shifts started at 7am, police calls were a daily duty, we reported on murder court cases, attended evening council meetings, knocked on doors and stopped people in the street for comments, and worked evenings, weekends and bank holidays without a second thought.
We wrote breaking front page news stories with moments to spare before the paper was due on the printing press, with the editor reading over our shoulder as we wrote, so he could shout a headline across the room to the waiting subeditors. We phoned over our copy – made up on the spot – from crime scenes first thing in the morning, when you were acutely aware the whole newspaper process was hanging on your call and your crisp wording. They really were the very best days in journalism, without an AI bot in sight (my first newsroom computer had a black screen with green type…).
Thank goodness for shorthand – not that any of us thought that during the intense process of learning the incredible skill – a skill I still rely on now and could not function as a journalist without. Thirty years on from learning it, not a month goes by when someone doesn’t stop me mid interview to marvel at the dying art.
Fully qualified journalist, 1999
Before I left the Echo, I had risen through the ranks as chief reporter and then news editor, loving the responsibility and buzz of deciding what the team should report on and where those stories should appear in the paper.
My career also took me to the weekly broadsheet Surrey Mirror newspaper as news editor and back to Essex as deputy editor of five mid Essex weekly newspaper titles, including the Maldon & Burnham Standard and the Chelmsford Weekly News.
Another standout in my career was my stint as editor of the Met Police internal newspaper, The Job. Based on the 13th floor of New Scotland Yard, I ran the fortnightly publication just like a traditional newspaper, telling colleagues of the news from across the organisation. I was in that role when the July 2005 bombings happened across the public transport network in London. To be at the heart of worldwide news like that, being responsible for telling the very many stories from within an organisation such as the police, was such an honour and something I am very proud of.
Back in 2009, my career took another turn, when redundancies that continue to sweep the newspaper industry today knocked at my door. Once the panic had passed and the tears had been shed, I set about making one of those dreams come true that maybe most of us have, but very few of us have the confidence to make happen – setting up my own business. It’s not something I would have done without having my hand forced – I was single and with a mortgage on my own, so it would have been crazy to take a leap of faith. But, with that unexpected push, I turned my life into what it is today.
Fast forward 17 years and I can honestly say redundancy was nothing but a positive thing for me. I stand proud as a journalist with so much experience under my belt and with clients who come to me because of that background and stay with me because of the work I can do.
I feel so proud of everything I have achieved – and continue to achieve – and still get the same old buzz when my articles appear in print, as they do week in and week out. I still have the same hunger for a good news angle and my passion for writing.
But, maybe the biggest achievement of all, is building a business that has allowed me to work part-time for the last five years while finally becoming a mum after a lengthy IVF journey. I’ve been able to be the mum I always dreamed of, being at home with my miracle girl every day of the week, while still nurturing the business I built from nothing. As my daughter begins her own next chapter in September when she starts “big girl school”, her mumma is looking forward to getting her teeth stuck into yet more wonderfully satisfying work projects.
Thirty years in journalism. What a ride. And one I absolutely adore, just like I did as a teenager.
