Surrey Life Editor's Blog

Calling Surrey snappers!

Anyone out there who likes taking photographs? Want to see your favourite picture on the pages of Surrey Life? Fancy coming to the rescue of a stressed-out editor...?!

Basically, we're on the hunt for stunning pictures of our county to include on our Beautiful Surrey double page spread. The problem is, against all expectations, it's proving monumentally difficult.

Between you and I, when we introduced this new series, I thought it would be a really easy, low labour intensive couple of pages - you know, minimal text, no legals to check etc - but nothing could be further from the truth.

Even though we live in one of the most beautiful counties in England, not to mention the most wooded one, there seem to be surprisingly few pictures around that capture our spectacular landscape.

Even a ring round of all our photographers has yielded few results that would work.

The thing is, there are quite a few criteria that need to be satisfied i.e. the pictures have to be...

1) Totally stunning

2) Landscape shaped

3) Seasonal (i.e. summer)

4) Very hi res and pin-sharp

5) Oh, yes, and the focal point can’t be in the middle or it gets lost in the spine of the magazine.

So, can you do better than our photographers? If so, drop me a line at editor@surreylife.co.uk and you could see your photo published in the magazine. 

Review update

Back in the office today - thank goodness - after a long day of meetings yesterday at head office.

Fortunately, though, they all seemed to go fairly smoothly, and then we headed off to the pub to do my personal development review... yes, the pub! Far better than a board room I'm sure you'll agree.

Think it went okay - well, I'm still in a job anyway so that's a good start - though I still have some concerns about the scores I gave myself (see yesterday's entry)...

My boss seemed mildly surprised when I presented my scoresheet, observing that I had been "rather harsh" on myself, which means I have probably just talked myself out of any possible hopes of a future promotion/pay rise etc - oh good.

Anyway, that aside, it all seemed to go okay so I live to fight another day!

In other news, it has only just dawned on me that there is a bank holiday this coming Monday, which means that we have one less day than I thought before we go to press - yikes!

On that note, better crack on with stuff...

Score draw

Off down to our regional head office in sunny Worthing today, which might sound rather pleasant given the balmy weather, but sadly I'm unlikely to get anywhere the beach...

On the contrary, given the number of meetings I have, it'll be a miracle if I emerge from the office again before tomorrow morning.

Starting at 2pm, this is what we have to get through....

1) Review meeting of the May edition

2) Planning meeting for the June edition

3) My own personal development review

It's the latter that's giving me most cause for concern - not least because you have to do your own scoresheet - I mean, how does that work?

It's one of those awful situations where you either give yourself a rubbish mark, which then goes down on your record for posterity, or you award yourself a high mark and then come across like a total bighead. Hmmm...

In the end, I've gone for the middle ground in most sections and guess I'll just hope for the best.

I'll let you know how it all goes tomorrow... 

More moans...

So the Surrey Life carol concert finally made it onto ITV last night - for all of 3 seconds and not even a mention of our name - great.

Did anyone else catch our TV debut on 'Britain's Rich List Give It Away' ? Doubtful, actually, as it was a case of blink and you'll miss it...

Basically, we had agreed to let the TV cameras into our charity carol concert in Shere last Christmas as they were filming a programme to highlight some of the people in the Sunday Times Rich List who use their status to help others.

One such person, who definitely does far more than most, is our star columnist Max Clifford, who was the guest speaker at the event.

We really bent over backwards to accommodate all the TV people (believe me, getting permission to film in a church is no straightforward matter - it was both complicated and time consuming) so I thought they might at least have given us a mention - but not a word! 

Grrr, one thing's for sure - we won't be having them back next year.

In other news, it's shaping up to be a very busy day. Just spoken to Max who is filming a TV pilot this afternoon with Dallas star Patrick Duffy at his home in Weybridge - apparently, Patrick is playing a Hollywood star and Max is playing himself - brilliant!

Anyway, we're going to get our photographer Andy Newbold over there to get some exclusive pics, so that'll be a great story for the next issue.

In the meantime, back to the mayhem...    

Read all about it!

The brand-new magazine has just hit the shops - always an exciting (if slightly nailbiting) time for us.

It's at this point in the month that we get the most feedback from our readers - good and bad. So today, for example, the first day we are on sale right across the county, is often a bit of an emotional rollercoaster.

One minute we'll have a reader on the phone saying how much they love our latest article on local produce and the next we'll have someone asking why we didn't feature their Great Aunt Ethal's funeral in the social pages...

Anyway, hopefully the feedback should mostly be positive for this edition (what's the betting I'm tempting fate?!) as it really is a lovely issue of the magazine.

Here are a few of the highlights...

- A special feature on 20 great gardens to visit this summer - for this one, we tracked down the experts from one of our favourite books, The Good Gardens Guide, and gave them the difficult task of choosing their favourite Surrey gardens to visit this summer.   

- An interview with the fantastic children’s author, Dame Jacqueline Wilson, in which she shares her own childhood memories of growing up in Kingston. 

 - A special preview of the Surrey County Show - includes a hit list of the 10 things you must do when you’re there – from watching a cookery demonstration at the Surrey Food Theatre and browsing the fantastic farmers’ market to watching the delightfully named competition, ‘Pig most like its owner’!

- A feature on Surrey’s dog walking community - this one is all about the people who have met, made friends and even married each other after getting chatting in Surrey’s parks (as a dog-lover myself, I can guarantee that any fellow dog owners out there are going to love this one!).

- An interview with world-famous Lesley Garrett as she looks forward to performing at Wisley Music Festival.

As ever, we'd love to hear what you think of the magazine, so either post a comment or drop us an e-mail at editor@surreylife.co.uk 

In the meantime, better press on as my phone is ringing once again - fingers crossed this one's a nice call... 

Strictly going on a diet

I was fortunate enough to enjoy a lovely lunch today with Flavia - runner-up in last year's Strictly Come Dancing - at the Dining Room in Reigate.

Although she was born in Italy, Flavia has lived in Guildford since the age of four and is passionate about the county where she lives.

Not surprisingly, we had plenty to talk about, as we extolled the virtues of our historic market towns, sung the praises of the surrounding countryside and raved about the shopping!

She also gave me plenty of good gossip on Strictly too - like the fact that this year's series is going to start a whole month earlier in September - hoorah! - and that there may well be some extra couples taking part - all good news for Strictly fans!

I can't say too much as yet, but I'm hoping that Flavia will soon be having a little more involvement in the magazine, so watch this space...

In the meantime, I need to go on a diet. Flavia is not only beautiful but also absolutely TINY... grrrrr!

Blast from the past

One of the many great things about working for a magazine is the random things you receive in the post.

These can be anything ranging from items of food sent by Tesco's (always welcome) to Mac make-up (if we're very lucky) to homemade cakes (guaranteed to cause a riot...).  

However, this morning we took custody of probably the most unusual delivery we have ever received - a huge box of Surrey Life magazines (or The Surrey County Magazine as it once was), dating from the 1970s.

Spanning all the way from the very first issue in 1970 right up to 1979, this is the kind of thing that money just cannot buy - even on e-bay. Beautifully preserved and in pristine condition, the magazines have all been carefully bound in smart red leather folders and provide a fascinating insight into the history of the county.

This wonderful archive came to us courtesy of one of our readers, a Mr Dowson of Chertsey, who rang up out the blue to say he was having a clear-out and would we like them.

Well, Mr Dowson, we are much in your debt and this amazing collection has now taken pride of place in our office.

Needless to say, we've been having enormous fun this morning perusing the old fashioned adverts (some of the clients still advertise with us today!) and enjoying the antiquated turn of phrase in the editorial and the old-school design.

That aside, however, it is scarily similar to the magazine it is today. While we may be a lot bigger and glossier now, it seems that the things people want to read about in Surrey have remained exactly the same - preserving our beautiful countryide, great places for days out, fantastic places to eat, local history, the best shops to go to etc, etc.

Anyway,  Mr Dowson, we are enormously indebted to you for your kind generosity -you have made our day.

Back to the mad house

Today is my first day back in the office after four blissful days off.

As an editor, it can be quite hard to discipline yourself to take time out (especially for a control freak such as myself), but I have to admit that it definitely pays off.

Coming back this morning, I even felt able to tackle my in-tray AND my in-box - and, what is more, managed to clear them both (a feat previously unheard of...)

No doubt by tomorrow morning I will have forgotten that I ever had any holiday, but for now at least, I feel quite revived. 

With that in mind, I am going to work a bit late today and finish editing our celebrity interview for the June edition - a really entertaining piece on Jemma Kidd who was Surrey born and bred and now has a make-up school near Guildford.

I won't ramble on too much about that issue yet, though,as I want you all to go out and buy the May edition first, which is on sale from this Wednesday.

I'll give you the highlights of that one tomorrow... 

Welcome back

A huge welcome back to my deputy, Matt Williams, who managed to hobble into work today for the first time in over a month.

As regular readers will know, poor Matt badly dislocated his knee playing football (believe me, you don't want to know the details) and has been laid up at home ever since with his whole leg in plaster.

Today, though, he bravely donned his crutches, and even trousers and a shirt (I felt sure he'd be wearing bermudas), and managed the long climb up the stairs to our first floor office.

Anyway, it's great to have to you back, Matt (though as someone else pointed out, don't think for one minute you're excused from coffee making duties... you may be on crutches but we can always get you a trolley...).

Actually, Matt's return to work is going to be a bit of a baptism of fire all round as I'm now off on holiday for a couple of days (meaning that this will be my last entry until next week).

Just as well, actually, as following the chaos of deadline week, I have a pile of washing at home the size of Mount Vesuvius... hmm, suddenly proofreading doesn't seem quite so bad after all...

Grrrrrr.....

Very tired today - not to mention mildly delirious - after yesterday's long deadline day.

What is more, I started going through my e-mail inbox first thing this morning and I am still going now, with another 53 to go - oh good.

So apologies if you sent me an e-mail several days ago, but frankly it's taking me several weeks to get through the post-deadline backlog.

To make my mood even worse, just stumbled across a letter that arrived the other day headed in the subject matter, 'Limited vision of Surrey'. 

To give you a flavour of that little gem, here's an excerpt...

"Have been a keen reader of Surrey Life and some years and have refrained from commenting previously (my mistake) but feel compelled to record irritation of ourselves and friends at the over-exposure of Max Clifford (at least 4 pics per issue, sometimes 8) and the seemingly limited understanding of the Surrey boundaries..."

For the record, aside from the fact that he writes a column for us, the only other reason Max pops up in the mag slightly more often than others is that he gives up almost every night of the week to go along and support charity events in the county.

As a result, he frequently appears in our social pages - because we like to cover those types of events too.

And as for my understanding of the Surrey borders, I don't remember ever making a comment about them - in fact I would welcome a debate as I'd be the first to admit that they are anything but straightforward.

So, rant over and back to the land of e-mail... grrrrr...   

An epic deadline day

Phew! Just finished the May magazine after what turned out to be a truly epic deadline day.

Honestly, I tell you, you need nerves of steel to do this job... Max Clifford on one line asking for changes to his column at the 11th hour; my boss Jon Keeble on the other telling me he doesn't like one of the main coverlines; senior designer Donna James on yet another phone politely informing me that one of the fashion pages has corrupted - aaargh!!

Anyway, we got there in the end, praise be toGod and all his angels, and in the end, I love this issue.

Sometimes you end up wondering to yourself whether you've got the right balance of stuff in the mag, but this issue, in spite of all the problems (detailed in previous entries), somehow it feels right.

There's just the right mix of celebrity stuff, lots of lovely food & drink articles all about local, seasonal produce, interesting interviews with a range of high profile names including Jacqueline Wilson, Lesley Garrett and Lulu, and most important of all, it's packed full with hundreds of brilliant things to do in the county.

Now I just have to hope and pray that I haven't done anything stupid and missed out an entire feature or, even worse, heaven forbid, sent one to the printers twice...

To recover, I'm off for a nice dinner and, quite possibly, a  large glass of Sauvignon...  

Signs of life

Just a quick one to let you know that I am still alive - just.

Been up to me eyes for the last few days in proofing, amendments and cover meetings (mostly concerned with deciding whether we should coverline Lesley Garrett or Lulu - any preferences?!), and I'm still in the thick of it now.

In spite of all the chaos, however, it's shaping up to be a really strong issue. I'll tell you more about it when we've finally gone to press (God willing...).

For the moment, though, it's back to Max Clifford's column, which is a cracking read all about his 65th birthday party at his home near Weybridge.

There's a whole series of brilliant pictures as well - all exclusive to us - hoorah!    

Stop the madness!

It seems to have been non-stop for the last month, and things continue to get ever more hectic as we near this Monday's final deadline.

In fact, every time I think about it, I have to take a deep breath and think to myself, 'it's okay, nobody died, nobody got hurt... we're just running a teensy bit behind schedule...'  

Actually, considering all the problems we've faced - being a man down, hassles with the server (sometimes I think it would be quicker to drive the pages down to Worthing than send them via computer) and then the Sussex Life job interviews - we're not actually doing too badly.

One massive help has been taking on a freelance sub-editor, Chris Clark, who has been an emormous support - not surprising, I guess, when you consider that he worked for many years as a sub-editor on the Daily Mail and was also a news editor on the Sunday Times.

Needless to say, not a thing escapes his eagle eyes and he's also come up with some better headlines than me...hmm....

Seriously, though, he's been doing an amazing job and I would like to extend my thanks to him for all his great work.  

Right, better get back to the proofing... Tony Tobin here I come...

Snow business

What a wonderful surprise yesterday to wake up and see Surrey covered in snow.

I love that feeling when you open your eyes, and you suddenly become aware of that bright, white glow shining into the room, which prompts you to jump out of bed and race to the window (or maybe that's just me...).

Personally, though, I have never lost that childlish excitment about snow, and, secretly, I love the complete disruption it causes to the normal daily routine.

I like it when nature reasserts itself and shows who's really boss.

Here in Reigate, we had about four inches of snow, so naturally, I had to abandon my plans to spend the day in the office and instead went on a lovely long walk across Reigate Heath with our boxer dog Brin.

Actually, it seemed just about everyone had reverted back to their childhood for the day - I have never in my life seen so many snowmen all in one place.

Looking out the window now, of course, it's hard to believe the whole thing wasn't a dream. Anyway, it was fun to escape the stress of deadlines for one day at least. 

posted by Caroline Harrap with 0 Comments

The search continues

Apologies for the lack of entries over the last couple of days but I’ve been down at our regional head office in Worthing for the Sussex Life interviews for a deputy editor.

For obvious reasons, I can't really go into too much detail about the candidates, but suffice to say, it’s been a very interesting experience.

There were three of us on the interview panel – the editor of Sussex Life, Jon Keeble, who led the interviews, the senior designer for Sussex Life, Richard Andrews, and then myself.

Now maybe I’ve been watching too much TV of late, but I couldn’t help thinking that every time we piled into the board room it felt a bit like we were on The Apprentice, with Jon the Sir Alan Sugar of the trio; Richard Andrews his righthand man Nick Hewer, and then myself, er, Margaret Mountford...

Fortunately for the candidates, however, that was where the similarity ended and Jon was actually a very fair interviewer and didn’t say the word ‘shambles’ once.

Anyway, the search continues, with another group of candidates to see next week, and then the 'finalists' called back for second interviews the week after that.

As for me, I’ve dashed into the office to try desperately to catch up on my own magazine. Having been out of the office a lot over the last few days, and with my deputy Matt still off work, there’s a massive amount to do – especially given that it’s only a week now until we go to press.

Happy birthday

Just a quick one today I'm afraid as today is my last day in the office til Monday (gulp!) so really need to crack on...

Firstly, and most importantly, though, a very Happy Birthday to account manager Sarah Dowd... Sorry you've had to come into work today, but hope you manage to make up for it with some fabulous celebrations this evening!

In other news, had a weird deja vu experience yesterday when I caught sight of the front page of the Daily Express. The reason it caught my eye was because splashed across the top of the page in a big red panel was the headline, 'Lulu: Secret of why I look young at 59'.

We are also carrying an interview with Lulu and, coincidentally, spent most of yesterday afternoon wrangling unsucessfully with cheesy puns about 'shout' until we eventually settled on the headline, 'Lulu: How to look great at 60.' (I think ours is better!).

Anyway, look out for that interview in our May issue, which will be out in the last week of April.

Right, better get on... Off to sunny Worthing for the rest of the week to sit in on the interviews for a new deputy editor for our sister title Sussex Life. I'll let you know how it goes...