ITV news trainee and journalist Mark Ansell blogs

Although Meridian Tonight is based in Whiteley near Southampton and Maidstone and Thames Valley Tonight is based in Abingdon, a vital part of our operation is in the bureaux.

We have bureaux in Salisbury, Bournemouth, and Brighton. Over the past two months I’ve visited them all and have really understood their value.

In Brighton, there’s a team which provide stories for the Meridian programmes. The bureau is made up of two reporters, two cameramen, and a producer. One of the main reasons we have bureaux is that we have to be near the news so that we don’t miss out on stories. The Brighton office allows us to have a presence in the city and all of the towns nearby. It means we know people in the area and can respond quickly to breaking stories. If a story breaks in Lewes, we can be there in minutes thanks to this office. Without it, we’d have to rely on a reporter and cameraman travelling all the way from the Whiteley office near Southampton to cover the news item.

The stories we cover from the bureaux are incredibly varied. Last week while I was at the Brighton bureau we reported on a number of stories including: a school that was badly vandalised, a procession supporting the victims of domestic violence, a house fire that killed an elderly woman and I had the opportunity to cover a story about a science lecturer at Brighton University who’s putting on a big chemical experiments show in Brighton. The aim of the show was to entertain children by showing that science is fun and exciting.

Without the bureau, I doubt that we would have been able to cover even half of these stories. This shows how vital bureaux are to our operation.

You can watch Mark’s science report here.

Our Brighton webcam was down for over a week due to technical issues that I can’t personally get my head around - but I’m happy to announce that it’s back up and running at www.itvlocal.com/meridian/live.

We’ve had lots of queries about the downtime from locals and Brighton expats alike - it’s a really popular view. Personally, as a fairly regular Brighton daytripper, I associate the pier and beach with good times and like to log in now and then just to take in the unique Brighton vibe.

The good news is that during the downtime, we pressed forward with getting a second regional beachcam up and running - this time in Bournemouth. It’s up today for the first time - have a look at the default view on www.itvlocal.com/meridian/live to see it, I’m afraid today’s weather is looking a bit overcast but the waves aren’t too rough for October.

By clicking on the right-hand menu from our live cams page, you can see the whole network of ITV Local regional webcams, all over England and Wales. There are some real gems in there - Newquay harbour is one of my favourites, and everyone loves Gorillacam - live from the ape enclosure at Bristol Zoo. so if you’re bored with the view from your window, check out the live views in full screen. It’s cheaper than a train ticket!

It’s not every day you get to have your photo taken with Su Pollard and Claire Sweeney in 60s getup!

 

Su and Claire had just stepped off the stage after the first night of new musical SHOUT! at the Theatre Royal Brighton, and were looking to celebrate a successful opening performance. The pair were excited about performing in Brighton, and were delighted with the reception they received here. The high the performers were feeling after the show was pretty infectious, and I ended up staying for more than a couple of glasses of bubbly to help celebrate!

I think it’s safe to say that I’m failing miserably with this weeks challenge. None of my friends or family have commented on my blogs I think a little bribery is in order.

With regard to my steps, the secret to my success this week has been walking up the stairs, and going for lunchtime walks. I’m really lucky that I have the pier right outside my office, so it’s easy for me to pop down for a quick seaside walk, then get straight back to work. It’s given me an excuse to have a lunch break too! And the three flights of steps up to my office are testing me. I keep trying to walk up them a little faster each day.

I have to say that I’ve found this week quite tiring. But my favourite parts have been counting how many steps I did while walking around the supermarket – I think I clocked up about 2 thousand – I was amazed! I managed to persuade my friends to walk to the pub on Friday night instead of getting a taxi. They were all chuffed they’d saved some money and I was pleased I managed to walk an extra couple of thousand steps to add to my total for that day. And my boyfriend and I had a little adventure yesterday. The weather was so wonderful we went for a walk around Preston Park and then decided just to let our feet lead the way and just see where we ended up. We walked all the way to Hove and then stumbled upon a fabulous Greek restaurant where we had a lovely meal and reminisced about our holiday. He’s enjoyed getting so much fresh air and I think he’s getting used to wearing my pedometer when I can’t fit it on to my clothes. He feels like he’s doing his bit, bless him!

I’m looking forward to taking part in the Martletts Hospice walk this Friday night, I’m fascinated to see how many steps I’ll do in one chunk. I think I’ll need to put my feet up on Saturday though. I might even do two days worth of steps in one night!

All in all this week has been a triumph – the only spanner in the works was that I forgot to take my pedometer with me on Saturday and so didn’t record any steps for that day. But I’m hoping I’ll still have averaged over 10 thousand each day. And my plan to make sure I meet my quota for next week? I’m going to borrow a dog……

27th May 2008 16:47
It’s Too Hot to Walk!

I hadn’t realised quite how little I would normally do on holiday until I came away, knowing I had to try and walk 10,000 steps a day. Last week I was led into a false sense of security… I thought to myself ‘ This walking malarkey is pretty easy really, and quite possible to fit into daily life’…. that was until I arrived in Crete. It’s been 30 degrees at it’s coolest. The swimming pool and bar are within 100 yards of my apartment and the beach is right there, ready for me to roll out of bed and straight on to a sun lounger. It would be so easy for me to walk as little as possible and do absolutley nothing! Well, that’s what people go on holiday to do isn’t it? Nothing, Nada, nowt! But I’ve had a job to do - walking 10,000 steps a day. I’m not going to lie. This week has been incredibly difficult. The temptation to lie by the pool all day with a beer has been immense, but my boyfriend and family have been really supportive of this challenge and we’ve tried our best to go for as many walks as we can to try and make the target. But there have been days when the heat has got too much, and on those days I’ve not done my quota. The worst part has been remembering to take off my pedometer when I’ve gone for a swim - and working out where to put it when I’m wearing a dress. One night I even strapped it to my boyfriend’s waist when we went out for dinner. I figured we would both be walking the same distance, so I didn’t think it was cheating :)I think when I return to Brighton and go back to work I’ll find the challenge alot easier, but I’m going to try my hardest next week to make up for the steps I’ve missed.

19th May 2008 18:24

Well, week one has - on the whole – been a rather pleasurable experience. The weather at the beginning of the week certainly made life easier and I’ve enjoyed walking to and from work with the sun on my back and a spring in my step! I’ve been surprised I’ve managed to do the steps on most days and on others I’ve exceeded the target. I’ve even found at points that I’ve been excited to look at my pedometer just to see how many I’ve done…..
Talking of my pedometer… I don’t think it has enjoyed the ride quite so much. I think I may have dropped it a total of about 8 times, and it has nearly ended up in the toilet bowl twice. I think I need to invest in some sort of strap!
Also, I must remember that walking ten thousand steps a day is not a green light to eat and drink what ever I like, or to spend money on new clothes just because they will be ‘good for walking in’. I’m tempted to buy a bacon sandwich 4 times along my journey to work, the smell literally follows me up the London Road and then on to St James’s Street. I’m not sure how long I’ll be able to hold out, so may have to find a new route.
I haven’t really done anything out of the ordinary this week, but I’m sure when I’m on holiday next week and the week after I’m going to find it difficult to reach my target…. Firstly I’m going to have to negotiate where my pedometer will sit on my bikini!