Working Week

Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength

2008-11-20T09:27:56Z

By Richard Evans, Reporter "Now you're being rude, and I hate rude people." "Rudeness is an epidemic." Hannibal Lecter M.D WHEN psychiatric cannibalistic serial killer Hannibal Lecter stumbles across a person he considers rude, vulgar or discourteous he chooses to eat their liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti. Being a journalist on a weekly newspaper and not a cold-blooded sadistic evil genius, when someone is rude I instead either turn the other cheek, or at the very worst mutter something mildly offensive or sarcastic under my breath. Hardly a deterrent for them in the future to discontinue slamming doors in my face and treating me as if I'm their own personal door mat. This week I really have had enough. Nothing annoys me more than when an individual assumes I may have been put on this earth to hold open doors while they shoot past without a word, or even a nod or polite half smile, which would be perfectly sufficient. Is brief eye contact too much to ask? The other thing that winds me up is people who can't even be bothered to look at me when I speak to them or just treat me as if I am an invisible breeze. Of course nobody is perfect, everyone has a bad day. I swore out loud just the other day when shocked by the price of the product I was buying. I was pretty miserable with the said member of staff. Realising it was not their fault (although they had been slightly abrupt and blunt when I questioned the price) I returned minutes later and apologised. But these rude people are like this all the time and they don't even realise it. And do you know what? For the first time in my relatively short 31 years of life I have a little empathy with a serial killer - albeit a fictional one!

Urban explorers - why so coy?

2008-11-05T15:51:50Z

By David Simister, reporter SOMETIMES being tarred with the "in the media" brush sucks. I came to the North Wales Weekly News with noble ambitions to do the best I can in covering people's stories, and I think everyone here does their upmost to make sure our reporting's fair, honest and reflective of the community. Yet we still get groups of people who think that - being from the nasty, evil world of newspaper reporting - we're involved in some huge conspiracy to make them look as stupid as possible. This is one of the lessons I've learned delving into the dark and murky world of urban exploration, an historically-minded hobby that borders on the barely legal. Essentially it involves daring photographers breaking into decaying buildings, taking snapshots of what remains, and then posting them online for preservation's sake. Is it anti-social and illegal, or a necessary way of recording the neglected history across North Wales? That's what I was hoping to find out for a future edition of our feature series The Issue, but that's before I came across some of the hobby's more paranoid purveyors. "There aren't any myths surrounding it, only what the press makes up," came the flatfooted refusal from 28 Days Later, one of the UK's biggest urban exploration forums after I made a polite enquiry. "So sorry, but the answer is NO." Really? I thought if anything it'd be a lack of communication that helps perpetuate so many of the myths surrounding urban exploration in the first place. Obviously, by the very nature of it I can understand why so many urban explorers don't want to be identified, but that doesn't mean that the work they do can't be shared with the community and explained in greater detail. The region's urban explorers remain shrouded in mystery for now, but they shouldn't be.

Fishy business!

2008-10-09T13:28:34Z

By David Simister, reporter I KNEW there was something fishy going on with the e-mails I got earlier this week, but its anonymous writer reckoned he'd got us hook, line and sinker. We seem to get millions of e-mails every week and yes, they have proven to be a revolution when it comes to chasing stories. The only problem is that I only tend to take an interest in ones about news stories in North Wales; the 24th anniversary of Britain's third best-selling brand of jam I don't. This week's one was an absolute gem. An Abergele fisherman had caught a record-breaking 18lb brown trout in one of the region's fisheries, and an e-mail purporting to be from the fishery's owner offered me the chance to net some nifty coverage in this week's Weekly News. Only one problem: it wasn't true. I don't know who the hoaxer was - funnily, he chose to remain completely anonymous - but he clearly reckoned we're too lazy to check our stories before running them. A quick call to the fishery's owners confirmed no records had been broken, the e-mail had nothing to do with them, and the picture "they" had promised to send was a internet-copied fake. Oddly, the next e-mail from our hoaxing friend implied he'd had us "hook, line and sinker". Perhaps if we'd run a spoof story on our pages, he would have done. Yet all he's achieved is wasting a lot of people's time and falsely assuming a hardworking Abergele businessman's identity (although it was quite funny). As Malcolm Muggeridge once said, only dead fish swim with the stream.

Sick as a parrot over football rights

2008-09-16T10:47:42Z

By Richard Evans, Reporter I KNOW the highlights of the international football last week were later aired on a freeview channel for all, but it wasn't much good if you didn't know about the late decision. I don't blame Setanta Sports for trying to make the most of their exclusive rights to England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales away games, but I think most will agree it is fundamentally wrong. Reportedly the Irish channel paid £5 million for the exclusivity of the games. In a world where nothing is free it seems you must now pay more and more for what essentially I'd expect the BBC to acquire the rights to in the first place. The Premier League and such... okay, take it away, flog it on Sky Sports or whatever. Do the same with the Ryder Cup if you must, and the volleyball world cup and other niche sports. But the national game? Sorry rugby fans, but football is still the most popular sport in Wales, as in England, although you could argue this is not the case in terms of the international game. Every household is forced to pay for the outdated and drastically unfair TV licence when there is a choice of literally hundreds of channels available elsewhere. Unless you like EastEnders then why would you want to spend your hard earned cash on a channel of reruns when you have hundreds of alternatives? If you want the BBC then pay for it, but people should be given the choice. And if we aren't then the least the Government funded British Broadcasting Corporation can do is pull their finger out and secure the rights to events of national interest such as the national teams trying to qualify for the World Cup, which is still more popular than the Olympics, by the way, however commendable Team GB's performance was. I just feel sorry for those who splashed out £15 to watch Amir Khan take a whopping in 54 seconds. The BBC has reportedly struck a £18 million three-year deal to pay Jonathan Ross - nice work if you can get it, but wouldn't £1 million of that sum be much better spent on the wights - sorry rights - to the football? I think so.

Why Colwyn Bay is nothing like Beirut

2008-09-03T12:29:54Z

By Steve Stratford, Deputy Editor IT'S so tediously easy to say that somewhere in Britain that's seen better times is "like Beirut". Colwyn Bay town councillor Gwyn Hughes said as much in a council debate on Monday, likening Abergele Road in Colwyn Bay to the troubled Lebanese city. He admits that his comments were throwaway, but sticks by what he said - that the fact there are a number of boarded-up buildings there, and a post office under threat of closure, makes it like a war-torn Middle Eastern city that has actually managed to stage an impressive economic turnaround since the civil war. The 2006 Lebanon "July War" might have set it back once more, but it's no longer as easy to justify likening a deprived area of Britain to this tenacious capital city. I find it tiresome when people roll out the old "looks like Beirut" comment because it could be perceived as pretty disrespectful to the 200,000 people who lost their lives or were injured in Beirut during the conflict. There was a distressingly good reason why Beirut got the reputation for destruction that it did, and Colwyn Bay cannot boast a similar history of death and destruction. Colwyn Bay might have its problems, but come on... they're nowhere near as serious as those faced by the Lebanese in the 1990s and 21st century. The ironic thing about this story is that Cllr Hughes is Bay of Colwyn Town Council's representative on the Bay Life Initiative regeneration panel. So if those charged with trying to turn around Colwyn Bay's fortunes are going to be that negative, how can we expect any movement on the issue? Beirut has a rich and impressive cultural history that is capitalised upon in its many museums, tourist attractions and Ottoman and Arabesque architecture. It is a vibrant city with both horror and splendour in its past, and perhaps Colwyn Bay could learn something from how it gets back up, dusts itself down and forges fresh fortunes every time it's knocked back. It was poor town planning that destroyed Colwyn Bay, not civil war.

Richard Brunstrom's reputation precedes him!

2008-09-02T11:49:24Z

By Steve Stratford, Deputy Editor NEWS travels fast! An exclusive story by our chief reporter Richard Evans which appeared in last Thursday's paper was picked up by at least two Sunday papers at the weekend, both articles quoting the North Wales Weekly News as the source. It was the amusing story about Chief Contsable Richard Brunstrom denying to our reporter that he was due to retire at the end of 2009, despite the police chief telling the BBC in an interview last month that he would do so. And luckily we got Mr Brunstrom's comments on tape so there could be no argument he never said it. In fact, you can hear him say it in a special video we have put together in our online videos section. It's far from unusual for national newspapers (or TV and radio, come to that) to pick up on stories in the Weekly News. Indeed many news organisations trawl the regional papers on a regular basis for stories they can beef up and use again. And it's very often something to do with our controversial chief constable that gets picked up, especially by those tabloids that seem to have it in for him. But it's always gratifying for the Weekly News to get a name-check in a version of the story that will be read by many more people across the UK, and the world online. If you missed the story, it's on page 6 of our August 28th edition, or, as I say, on the website in story and video form.

Heroes of the ocean wave

2008-08-27T15:30:08Z

By Judith Phillips, Reporter EVERY now and again stories crop up which make you aware of the selflessness of volunteers who give up their time freely to help others and sometimes put their lives at risk in the process. This week the brave members of Llandudno's lifeboat crew have put to sea in appalling conditions twice in two days to save a total of five people whose lives were at risk when their vessels experienced problems in dangerously rough seas. On the first occasion on Monday the all weather lifeboat Andy Pearce was at sea for a total of 10 hours after an historic wooden hulled former fishing boat with three men on board got into trouble near the Rhyl Flats wind farm site. The lifeboat battled against 12ft high waves to tow the vessel safely into the Conwy estuary. Less than 24 hours later the Andy Pearce was launched again, this time to go to the aid of a terrified husband and wife whose yacht was floundering helplessly, pounded by huge waves in a force eight storm 30 miles out into the Irish Sea. A rope attached to marker buoys was entangled with the vessel's propellor and steering gear. Without a thought for his own safety RNLI crewmember Tim James was lowered into the sea at the yacht's stern and attached to a safety harness, and spent one a half hours in the icy sea trying to cut the rope free. At times he was completely submerged by the waves and all the time he was at risk of the yacht crashing down on him, with possibly fatal consequences. Meanwhile the lifeboat crew under the command of deputy second coxswain Graham Heritage kept the lifeboat close by ready to swoop to his assistance if needed. It was a rescue operation to match any in the annals of the long and illustrious career of Llandudno lifeboat station and left me in awe of the courage and determination of these brave men who were at sea for 12 hours until finally the yacht was escorted to its mooring at Conwy marina. The RNLI say their names will be put forward for awards, and quite right too. Such heroism and devotion to other human beings makes a welcome contrast to the tales of wanton vandalism and violence which often make up our daily fare.

Post Office closures threaten community life

2008-08-27T15:13:34Z

By Samantha Castle, Reporter THE livelihood of rural post office businesses like Awelon Stores in Pentrefoelas, who I had the pleasure of spending an afternoon with for my Issue in this week's edition of the Weekly News, now lies firmly in the hands of fate. At the end of July it was revealed that 52 post offices across North Wales are earmarked for closure before the end of the year, and a further 14 to be replaced by mobile outreach services. The public consultation will run until September 15 before Post Office Ltd makes its final decision. I travelled down the Valley to the closely-knit community of Pentrefoelas to spend some time meeting the local people who use the village post office, which doubles up as the only village shop, to evaluate exactly how the shake-up will affect their lives. Everyone I spoke to, young and old, were just as concerned that they would lose postmaster Mark Tuck and his partner Sonja Taylor and their twin daughters from the village as they were about losing the thriving post office, general store and cafe. Mark and Sonja only took the business on two years ago under the impression they were making a sound investment and they soon settled into village life, enrolling their twin girls Sunia and Linnaea into the local school. But now they face the prospect of going out of business if and when the part-time post office facility is replaced by a weekly outreach service. And under a cruel clause in the postmaster's contract he is denied the opportunity to offer any post office services, including pay-point, mobile phone top-up, and even the selling of stamps, for 12 months. Mark and Sonja simply can't see the rest of their business surviving without keeping the trade the current post office generates. A public meeting with a representative from the post office, MP David Jones and AM Darren Millar will take place on Thursday, August 28 at Cerrigydrudion school at 7pm where it is hoped an agreement will be reached regarding the outreach service and the postmaster's contract clause. In the meantime, during the public consultation period it is up to the public, people like you and me, and anyone who ever uses a local post office, rural or suburban, to show your support by opposing the proposals and sharing your views. People like Mark and Sonja and all the people affected by these proposals are depending on it. To share your views on the proposals either write to Freepost Consultation Team or e-mail consultation@postoffice.co.uk

Great Orme litter mountain

2008-08-20T14:25:04Z

By Judith Phillips, Reporter LLANDUDNO'S Great Orme is one of our area's greatest natural assets. Its views, which on a clear day extend as far as the hills of Cumbria, are world renowned, and its other attractions include the 4,000-year-old copper mines - reputed to be the oldest industrial site in Europe - unique fauna and flora, including a rare species of butterfly and the feral goats, the tram, which is one of only three of its kind in the world, and the cabin-lift. So why is it there are people who have little regard for its wild beauty, and use it as a dumping place for their litter, and fail to clean up after their dogs? Last Friday we took our grandchildren for a picnic at one of our favourite spots just above St Tudno's Church. First we had to search for a spot to lay our rug which was free of the dog excrement which was scattered around. That achieved, we ate our sandwiches and packed the foil wrappings carefully away in the boot of the car. Assuring ourselves the spot was pristine, we then set off to walk to the summit. Returning an hour or so later we found that other picnickers had driven off leaving a pile of unwanted food and wrappings on the grass close to our car, attracting a gaggle of raucous seagulls who were enjoying the feast. Nearby my husband picked up two disposable barbecue trays, several drinks cartons, cans and takeaway food trays and then looked round for a litter bin to place them in. To his surprise there wasn't one, even though this is a popular picnic spot where the council has thoughtfully provided a couple of picnic tables and benches. The lack of a bin doesn't excuse those who thoughtlessy dump their litter or fail to pick up after their dogs, but it obviously doesn't help the situation. At this point I have to say that I'm sure the vast majority of dog owners and picnickers are thoroughly responsible, but I would appeal to the small minority who aren't to think twice before they violate our beauty spots in this way. How would they like it if I dumped beer cans, polystyrene trays and cardboard cartons on their front gardens? Have they no regard at all for our natural environment? And a final request to Conwy County Council: please provide more litter bins on the Orme and empty them regularly. Other than those at the summit complex and the halfway tram station there are none as far as I'm aware. One at the picnic spot near St Tudno's Church would be welcome, as wouldone at another popular picnic site and litter blackspot at the "tank tracks" off Marine Drive near the Rest and Be Thankful Cafe.

Working on adrenaline

2008-07-31T14:59:40Z

By Steve Stratford, Deputy Editor THIS week's edition was something of a moveable feast as deadline approached. Usually I know pretty much which story is going on which page by around 10.30am on a Wednesday, and by a Wednesday there's only really the front section of the paper left to finish (pages 1-15 roughly). The rest of the paper is often already done by deadline day. But this week all the best laid plans refused to stay still, and it was often all dependent on outside forces outside our control. So I had to draw up a kind of flow diagram - like one of those old Choose Your Own Adventure books - so I knew all the different permutations of pages if x, y or even z happened! There was a stage where I didn't know what we were going to put on the front of the Conwy Valley edition - if North Wales Police released a statement and photo from the family of tragic Lee Thompson-Walker in time, we'd lead with that, but if that didn't come through in time we'd go with a story about the Post Office closures in the Valley. But if the Post Offices did go on the front, that would mean I'd have to have three versions of an inside page to carry the news we did have on Lee Thompson-Walker.... There was similar indecision surrounding the Colwyn Bay front page - we had the story we eventually led with about Victoria Pier owner Steve Hunt's current financial tribulations, but we needed a third party to verify a few points before we could run with it safely, and they weren't going to be free until 1.30pm... So we had to work on a back-up lead story for the Bay, which has yet to see the light of day (tune in next week for that one, folks!) but we were unsure whether we'd get it finished in time because of yet another third party obstacle. So it was a bit hairy, but immense fun working on adrenaline alone! Not every week is like that - as I said, we usually have firmer plans by that stage of the week - but when it's all up in the air like that, it reminds you how lucky you are to be in a profession where no two days are the same!

Why do people contact the press?

2008-07-23T15:41:44Z

By Samantha Castle, Reporter NEW research recently published has revealed the reasons why people share their real-life stories with the press. In an era when people are increasingly selling their own stories to the national press for cash, you'd be forgiven for assuming the majority are salacious kiss-and-tells, with the tale-tellers seeking instant fame and a quick buck. However, research has revealed that people's motivations for sharing their experiences in newspapers like the Weekly News are often far more admirable - in fact, almost one third were hoping to warn other people of dangers they had faced first-hand, ranging from the criminal (identity fraud, money scams and injustice at the hands of the police) to the medical (liver transplant patients and slimming successes). The research, conducted by an agency which specialises in real-life stories, also shows that a further 21% hoped to "inspire and motivate others" with their tales of successful weight loss, moving on after heartbreak and recovering from serious addiction or illness. The third most popular reason for selling a story was to raise awareness of an issue, whether it be promoting disabled sports or talking about personal experiences of illnesses such as anorexia, cancer and dementia. Here at the Weekly News we are no different. We are here to bring you real-life stories that affect people just like you. Every day people contact us in the genuine hope they can prevent someone else from going through a horrific experience or, on the flipside, spur people on to success in their personal or business life. The survey unveiled the top ten motivations to be: 1. Warn others of dangers they had faced (31%) 2. Inspire and motivate others (21%) 3. Raise awareness of an issue (17%) 4. Earn cash (10%) (national newspapers and magazines!) 5. Gain publicity for a product/ business (8%) 6. Find a missing person (4%) 7. Gain closure on a personal situation (3%) 8. Pay tribute to a lost loved one (3%) 9. Kiss-and-tell (2%) 10. Pressurise a Government body (1%)

United in strike action

2008-07-21T10:36:12Z

By Steve Stratford, Deputy Editor THE council workers' strike last Wednesday and Thursday probably affected people with rubbish and recycling to get rid of more than anybody else. Yes, libraries were closed and the odd school (six closed in Conwy, but amazingly they were all closed in Flintshire!), but by and large the most frustrating effect of the industrial action is that wheelie bins weren't emptied. It's bad enough having to wait two weeks to have your household waste taken away; any longer than that is particularly galling. Throughout the two days my inbox was bombarded with updates from Unison about what effect the strike was having across the UK. There was an almost smug pride in the way the union was bullet-pointing all the closures, cancellations and postponements across the country, but there were some real gems to come out of these press releases. In Bristol strikers were doing the "low paid limbo" on picket lines demonstrating how low council workers' salaries are, while others were walking tightropes to show how hard it is to balance their budgets. Sounds like a lot of fun, and it would have made great pictures for the media of course, as would the strikers in Leeds who dressed up as Cinderella to demonstrate that they were the poorest paid in the public sector. They did want to go to the ball, but the council-run community centre was shut for the day... Unison was pleased to announce there were stray dogs roaming the Amber Valley as the dog wardens were on strike, and almost gleeful about the fact that registrars in Barnsley were on the picket line, although they were still registering deaths, it was just births and marriages they were turning away. It's good to know the dead still have rights in Barnsley. National judges arriving for the Bury in Bloom contest were made to use a taxi instead of a limousine because the mayor's chauffeur was on strike. What's more, the economy class judges were greeted by council gardeners picketing when they visited Bury Gardens! Oh, and parking was free for two days in Hastings because parking attendants joined the strike. I don't think we had such luck in Conwy, although I did spot the mayor of Bury's chauffeur parking his limo on Llandudno prom at one point...

Weekly News video: Alice's Llandudno wonderland

2008-07-17T13:10:00Z

Take a look around the Rabbithole exhibition in Llandudno, dedicated to Alice in Wonderland.

Weekly News video: Reporter Sam's brave death fall

2008-07-17T12:58:23Z

See North Wales Weekly News reporter seek out the latest thrill at Treetop Adventures with a 110ft death fall.

Weekly News video: Sailor Billy returns to Aus

2008-07-17T12:48:25Z

Sailor Billy Hughes bids farewell to Conwy and returns to Australia. The North Wales Weekly News was there to see him off.