Although I had had some fiction and club write-ups published in school magazines (at both my prep and grammar schools), the informative paragraph above was my first piece of "serious journalism" to see the light of day in the Kent & Sussex Courier.
Sadly, I didn't make a note of the publication date, or even the year, but it would have been 1984 or 1985, I guess.
In the sixth form at Skinners' we were encouraged to find a "work experience" placement in a local firm.
I knew then that I wanted to be a journalist and so badgered our local paper, the Kent & Sussex Courier, for a week of work experience.
Once there, at the Tunbridge Wells office, I was tasked with shadowing a wonderful, experienced, reporter called Sheila Gow, and while I wrote a number of dummy stories - to learn style etc - I was only allowed to write this one NIB ("news in brief") piece that would be published.
I was so proud when it made the paper that Friday - my mother was even prouder, of course - and so I cut it out and pinned it to my noticeboard (hence the hole in the top of the article!) where it sat, becoming increasingly buried under other scraps of paper, notes, and photographs.
It's not the most riveting of news stories - but it was mine!
This was the first, real, concrete step on the path to where I am today...
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