In three weeks I will be leaving the Bath Chronicle
behind and starting a new job. In fact, I will be leaving the world of
journalism behind, and moving into a different position. I am going over to the
other side, and will be the press officer for Great Western Air Ambulance.
I am feeling hugely excited about this. Don’t get me wrong,
I have been a journalist for six years, and have loved all of the experiences
that this has given me. I have done so many things that I would never have done
before, and interviewed lots of celebrities. But now I feel like it is time for a
change, and I am looking forward to helping this wonderful charity to continue
the great work it does.
I thought I would sum up some of the great, weird, fun, and
just plain crazy things I have done in my time as a journalist.
Top Five moments
This was a hard category - as there were so many to choose
from! But here are five of my most memorable moments:
*Interviewing shoe legends Jimmy Choo and Manolo Blahnik.
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| Me and Jimmy Choo! |
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| Me and Manolo Blahnik! |
For as long as I can remember I have loved shoes, especially
Jimmy Choos. So when he arrived in Bath in 2009 and I got to interview him I
was over the moon! I spent hours the night before picking out my best shoes to
wear, and when I met him he said ‘nice shoes.’ So my cream heels from Faith are
Choo approved! I was disappointed that when the interview was published he didn’t
send me a pair of shoes as a thank you - but meeting the great man was the
chance in a lifetime! Three years later I got the chance to interview another
shoe legend, when Manolo Blahnik was given an honorary degree at Bath Spa. Once
again I took ages to decide what pair of shoes to wear!
*Covering the Weston Pier fire
When the pier at Weston-super-Mare burnt down it made
national and even international news. At the time I was the reporter on the
Weston and Worle News, so I was sent to cover it. I remember waking up, putting
the TV on while I ate my breakfast, and seeing the pier on fire! Cue a mad dash
down the motorway, where you could see the smoke. I was there all day, talking
to people who had loved the pier, watching the firecrews tackle the blaze, and
attending a press conference by the owners who vowed to make it bigger and
better than ever. A lot of people loved that pier, and I am glad that the
owners kept their promise, and rebuilt it. At the end of the day it took me
ages to find my car, as I had parked it in a rush down a side street and hadn’t
made a note of the name!
*Swinging sixties makeover
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| Ready to part sixties style |
In August 2009 an exhibition was held at the Assembly Rooms
in Bath called Story of The Supremes From the Mary Wilson Collection. It was
dedicated to the clothes worn by The Supremes, one of the most well-known
Mowtown bands of all time. As part of this they were offering people the chance
to have a sixties makeover - and I jumped at the chance. I wore clothes that I
had found in my dressing up collection (basically a number of large bags which
hold all of my fancy dress costumes), and had my hair and makeup done. The
result? A massive beehive which was put together by more than 30 hair clips and
half a can of hairspray. Seriously, I thought it took me ages to get ready for
a night out, imagine if I was in the sixties, and had to build that beehive
every evening! And taking my hair down that evening took ages!
*Making cakes for Mary Berry
Not many people can say they have baked caked for the legend
that is Mary Berry! I was due to
interview her on an unrelated matter when the idea was put forward that some of
us bake cakes and get her to taste them. Now, I am not the best cake maker – I tend
to just chuck things together and hope they taste ok. I avoid baking, and only
do it when I have a cake sale for Sunshine Radio. So the thought of making
something for Mary Berry to taste was scary! I opted for biscuits, as I thought
they would be the easier option. An evening and one destroyed kitchen later and
I had a chocolate chip cookie in the shape of a bear for her to taste. She was
really lovely, and up for trying it. Her comments were ‘It tastes lovely, but
the bear looks a little obese!’ I will take that! Great British Bake-Off here I
come!
*Lake District press trip
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| Meeting Peter Rabbit |
During my time as a journalist I have been lucky to go on a
few press trips. My favourite one was the first time we went to the Lake
District. I have never been before, but since then have been a few times. It is
so beautiful, whether you visit in the summer or winter (which was when we went
for this trip.) We stayed at a beautiful hotel in Grasmere, visited the Beatrix
Potter museum, and Wordsworth’s cottage. This was the time that we almost got
stuck up a mountain, as we decided to climb it late afternoon, got lost, and
only just made it down before it got dark!
There have also been many bizarre moments in my carer:
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| Freezing in our pjs! |
* Standing in the middle of busy shopping centre in my pjs.
This was to launch a charity Midnight Walk, and saw us
standing in pjs in a busy shopping centre with Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies.
It was winter too – so we were freezing!
*Eating one of the hottest chilli sauces in the country.
At a chilli festival I got conned into tasting the hottest
sauce. It was horrible – my mouth was on fire, and didn’t cool down for hours!
*Walking down snow covered slopes/ driving to cut off
village
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| Just before I fell over. |
A village cut off by snow? I was sent to investigate. The
result? I got my car stuck, had to abandon it and be picked up. Hills in Bath too icy to walk down? I was sent to try them out. The result? A very sore bum!
*Tasting Bath’s thermal waters
I tasted the thermal waters of Bath that is believed to have
healing powers. It tasted really sulphuric, not very enjoyable!
*Having a waltz lesson from 89yr-old waltz champion
I interviewed a lovely old man who was a Waltz champion. He
was dressed in his tux for the interview, and insisted on spinning me around
his living room!
*Being captured in a painting of people in the city
A student painted people of Bath and I was included! See if
you can spot me!
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| People of Bath - can you spot me? |
Being a journalist has been great! I am now looking forward
to more adventures in my new job.
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