More Election night praise

FROM GRAHAM BELL


Now that I’m back on a sort of even keel of life (just about re-finding the sleep pattern – mixed in with one night hanging around students means I pick up all their bugs at once and have to lay in bed in hope!) – just wanting to pass on a quick note to yourself, Brian, Paul and the other lecturing staff for giving me the opportunity to present the election coverage for Winchester News Online. It was a fantastic experience and one that will remain with me for a long time. Can honestly say I was proud that you thought I would be able to anchor such a presentation. (even though I’ve yet to actually see or hear how any of it went...just pure reporting from people who watched it, who might be slightly biased.) So if there’s anyway of grabbing feedback from the night, I would be grateful.

Also, could you put up the note below from me to all the guys and gals who worked on the night.

‘Now that the dust has settled and the result has actually been determined – I just want to write a note of thanks to you all and a massive congratulations for the production of Winchester News Online’s coverage of the GE10.

As much as I fronted most of the evening, it’s only the hard work of the people behind the scenes that allowed the show to go on. Whether it was holding a microphone boom pole whilst laying around the couch, attempting to work the outside broadcasts, scripting once twice and thrice, getting the sound levels correct, moving the camera around thanks to a hyper-active presenter or even working/fixing the autocue, you should all be proud of what you achieved last Thursday.

A few personal notes of thanks have to go to the gallery staff upstairs who were extremely professional and delivered a stunning performance. Maddy and James were fantastic directors, keeping calm when everything was going on and keeping me informed to a high level, pushing the programmes along so that they didn’t feel stale, even at 4.30 in the morning as profiles and issues were dropping by the whayside.

Catherine did a tremendous job as editor for the evening – even if you did want Trident to be talked about one too many times!!! It would have been extremely easy to flap around with the excitement of it all, instead you kept an incredibly cool head that I think radiated out to everyone who was involved with the production – you should really be proud of the direction you took the programme in – one of the words I’ve had from a former colleague at ITN was ‘you learnt a lot about the history of the area, along with the issues that matter to people in Winchester. I feared it was going to be

The reporters out in the field at the counts and the round-ups teams also delivered a high quality of work and dealt with any of the technical issues with extreme competence. I don’t think any of us will forget Stuart’s cry of ‘STEVE BRINE’S WON, BRINE’S WON’ for quite a while. Also to Tom in the newsroom, a difficult task to keep on top of everything and give it the enthusiasm that it needed – but it certainly was one of the highlights of the evening. (and just for the record, Ealing and Southall was a Labour victory...)

Overall, you’ve all got to be proud of what you achieved on Thursday night. Remember these moments, throughout your career you’ll get to work in some great teams – and I’m proud to say I worked with each and every one of you. ‘




Hope all is well – don’t know what life is throwing at me next. Maybe going back into ITN to work on the productions desk for the World Cup – but that’s still up in the air. If not, it’s back to hospital radio for a little while yet...

Anything else that comes up, please feel free to ask. The diary is pretty light...