About Me

I am a fully qualified, award-winning writer, editor, interviewer and designer with meticulous attention to detail, with more than 32 years’ experience in journalism, print and publications. I have written for and edited newspapers, magazines, supplements, websites and led social media campaigns. I have written best-selling books. I was the editor of North-East magazine, Tynedale Life, which I also wrote features for and designed. It won several awards and was also commended as one of the best regional magazines in the country.

Background and experience

Born and brought up in St Ives, Cornwall, for more than three decades I worked as a journalist for newspapers stretching from Hampshire in the south of England to the Orkney Islands off the north coast of Scotland and for the past 18 years have lived and developed my career in Northumberland.

I set up my own copywriting, publicity and communications business in September, 2020.

My first commission followed one week later – I was asked to write the features and organise photography for a lifestyle magazine, which covers the North-East of England.

Here’s a brief summary of my career.

2002 – September 2020: Senior editorial roles (supplements editor/editor – Tynedale Life magazine/head of content/audience and content editor) – the Hexham Courant, Northumberland.

1994 – 2002: Chief reporter/deputy editor – The Orcadian, Orkney.

1988 – 1994: Journalist – The Hampshire Chronicle, Winchester.

Qualifications:

1991: National Certificate in Newspaper Journalism.

1988: BA (Hons) History and Archaeology.

Key achievements

North-East Magazine of the Year award

From 2007 to 2016 I was editor of Tynedale Life magazine, published by the Hexham Courant.
It won magazine of the year in the 2010 North-East Press Awards. A real team effort.
This is what the judges said: "A real magazine through and through. The sort that demands a good cuppa and an armchair. No frippery and flimsy. From murder to cupcakes it teems with intriguing and engaging content. A great selection of off-diary stories, features and pictures. It makes bold use of text and images in its design. It puts across to readers a real sense that through light and dark, glee and gloom, it is reflecting a genuine way of life both in its core community and across half the region. An excellent publication that should make its parent weekly paper proud.”

Design award

I designed and laid out all the editorial pages in Tynedale Life magazine using Adobe InDesign and Photoshop. I won the top award for design in the 2011 North-East Press Awards.
This is what the judges said: "This portfolio included some superb work. The spreads came from a magazine produced by a newspaper and demonstrated both discipline and imagination in creating eye-catching effects. Each included a single picture or piece of artwork, balanced with bold use of space, neat placing of text and subtlety with colours, whether strong or delicate. A real showcase artist."

My books

I wrote, compiled and arranged the design of Images in Time, a 150-page hardback book on Orkney life in the 20th century. Published by The Orcadian, it sold 1,000 copies in the first two weeks. I also wrote, Glimpses of Hampshire History, a collaboration between the Hampshire Chronicle newspaper and Winchester Museums Service. Both projects required in-depth research to shed light on the stories behind archive photographs, many of which had never been published before.