O/T TODAYS VISITOR, RESPECT FOR A LOCAL HERO!!

[mrpotatohead]

This weeks visitor front page headlines brought a tear to my eye, an intrepid local business man, faced with having to face a few extra days abroad in the sun, hired a car, drove nearly as long as any average delivery driver on day one, rested on a ferry for 12 hours, and then faced his final challenge, a chauffer driven ride home from southampton, the new editor is bringing real meat to our journalistic table, and highlighting real feats of endevour from humble but resourceful local, scott of the antarctic type characters


link to this ordeal on the front page

http://www.thevisitor.co.uk/morecambe-n ... 6244060.jp

[heysham_mfc]

Just watched a documentry on Channel 5 about a plane juney to Perth in Austraila in 1982 that almosted crahed after the engines failed because of volcanic ash getting inside them. Worth a watch on Demand Five if you missed it though would not reccomend it if you are hoping to fly in the next few days!

[Crazeenick]

Makes you proud to be British

[Christies Child]

....and has contributed to our club in many ways over the years.

[shrimper]

A MORECAMBE businessman made a gruelling two-and-a-half day, 1,500 mile trek by land and sea to get back home after being stranded in Spain due to the volcanic ash crisis.
The travel chaos which has left thousands trapped abroad forced Bob Tyers, managing director of Plastech Windows on White Lund, to put an amazing 'Plan B' into action when two flights home were cancelled.

Bob, who was in Mojacar in southern Spain on a business trip, had to:
*Pay 115 Euros a day to hire a van for three days
*Drive the nine-hour journey of 600 miles from Mojacar to Santander in Spain
*Grab the second to last place on a ferry boat at short notice for the 525 mile trip from Santander to Southampton
*Get a member of staff to pick up his car at Manchester Airport and drive it back to Morecambe
*Get another member of staff to drive all the way to Southampton and drive him back home!

Bob eventually got back at 11.30pm on Monday night, after setting off from Mojacar at 4.30pm on Saturday.


Of course, you've all ignored the REAL hero of this story.
(Same member of staff, though, I understand - unless the plan changed, he was going to Mcr and then driving down to Southampton.)

Nice one, Les!

[mrpotatohead]

At least bob tyers got there and back

UNLIKE SCOTT OF THE ANTARCTIC

AS FOR CHAUFFER TENZING

[Mark S]

This week saw the last ever Visitor in our house. Glen, they should offer you double your previous salary and anything else you want if they want to keep the Visitor in circulation.

I couldnt believe that story as a headline. I got stuck in Milan on business last week. It took a hired mini bus through Italy, Switzerland and France through Friday evening and overnight to get to Calais, a fight for tickets and space on a ferry (I witnessed selfish human behaviour at a very low point), an hour and a bit over the water, hire a car and drive up to Manchester to pick my own car up and back home in time for Dr Who. 26 hours from door to door.

It wasnt even news in my house! The kids hardly looked up from the telly when I got back.

[marky No.1]

This week saw the last ever Visitor in our house. Glen, they should offer you double your previous salary and anything else you want if they want to keep the Visitor in circulation.

I couldnt believe that story as a headline. I got stuck in Milan on business last week. It took a hired mini bus through Italy, Switzerland and France through Friday evening and overnight to get to Calais, a fight for tickets and space on a ferry (I witnessed selfish human behaviour at a very low point), an hour and a bit over the water, hire a car and drive up to Manchester to pick my own car up and back home in time for Dr Who. 26 hours from door to door.

It wasnt even news in my house! The kids hardly looked up from the telly when I got back.

You are right Mark. Les is very humbled by this and does'nt know what all the fuss is about. Can't believe that this was the headline news of the week

[shrimper]

Couple of things.

Firstly I saw the story as a kind of 'everyman tale' - everyone in the country must know at least one person who has been affected by the flight chaos. Clearly they can't cover every single one of those local incidents so this was just an 'example' of the kind of thing that others had experienced, so people can read about it and have discussions at home about this one and others they know of. It's common practice in newspapers up and down the country - look at a national phenomenon and select one (or more) incident from your area as a local 'angle'.

More importantly (in terms of your comments Mark) - the reason I chose to leave the paper I'd loved working for and that was my life for many, many years, was the way The Visitor was being stripped to the bone by the parent company.
Before I left, departments were being forcibly centralised to Blackpool and Preston, staff reduced severely and the people at Morecambe and Lancaster left to pick up the pieces. It's happening all over the country if you google any of the leading newspaper groups.
Those that remain at Morecambe are, effectively, having to do the work which three, four, five or more people did as recently as a year ago. Frankly I don't know how they manage to get a paper out each week.

Against that background it's inevitable that not as much time can be devoted to individual stories each week. That's not good for journalism nor for local communities that need a strong press to challenge authority and cover, in depth, issues that arise.
Readers will, of course, make their choice about whether to buy it or not - but it's not the fault of those still working at The Visitor and doing their best in horrendously trying circumstances.

I left because of the situation that was developing. It's not a case of the paper suffering because I left.

Having to personally oversee the redundancy of staff who had been friends and colleagues for many years and whose severance I didn't see as being either wise or necessary was the last straw for me.

The staff that remain are very capable journalists, ad reps, photographers and, to be fair, local managers, who really care about the paper and the town (good job they do, otherwise it would have crumbled to nothing by now) - they just don't have the resources to do the job they'd like to do any more.

[Mark S]

Fair comment. I know GL does a great job. Dont know the others.

However I dont believe for one minute that you would have run that story as headline or some of the more recent sensational ones such as the 'Bandleader pervert' story or the 'Pervert DJ' stories that are more tabloidesque than when you edited.

As I said, I wont be buying it any more. It is not worth 67p.

[Christies Child]

I don't know what others think but the coverage of our club leaves a lot to be desired. I remember the days when the last 2 if not 3 pages where full of interesting bits and pieces. Not anymore.

Shame really!

[mrpotatohead]

sign of the times, the free papers used to be a waste of time, then they got interesting, then they got crushed, the visitor now resembles a thin pointless dying citizen, crumbling into hot tea, like a cheap digestive.

on a serious note mark, i hope your box at CP is auctioned off, as it is now iconic since the sponsor has become a hero