by Year 6 pupils Lena, Evan, Ruby, Malini, Josh, Omar, Jonathan
Year Six journalism students, who run The Fairy Dust Times newspaper at St Andrew’s Church School, Bath, received professional advice from Ian Waller, editor of The Bath & Wiltshire Parent, during his visit in November.
The school’s first and only issue of The Fairy Dust Times appeared in March 2020, just days before the coronavirus epidemic shut down life worldwide. St Andrew’s restarted the club this September and students are working on a second print edition as well as a podcast.
“I’m really impressed you have your notebooks and pens,” Ian said. “Journalists should always carry three things: a notebook, a pen and…?”
As we tried to guess the answer – a camera? paper? – Ian shared 40 years of experience, beginning with work experience on his local paper, The Melksham News, when he was just 15. He later worked in many countries and ended up in South Africa before settling in Bath and eventually becoming editor of this magazine. Ian explained that everyone who works for the magazine has children and/or grandchildren.
“As a journalist, you’re always learning. It’s so much fun,” Ian said. “When I started, I had a typewriter and a telephone on my desk. There was no internet, no digital cameras and you developed your own film.”
Ian explained lots of different words journalists use, including bias, freelance, advertising and deadlines. Bias is when a journalist writes a story that takes a particular point of view; being freelance means you work for yourself and can cover any story; advertising is paid content; and deadlines are when you have to finish a story.
Ian, who has three children, loves to write theatre and restaurant reviews. “A theatre show might finish at 11pm,” he said. “But you still have to hand in the review by the deadline.”
We asked him many questions, including: what does an editor do; what is the hardest part of your job; and what is the funnest story you’ve ever covered?
Ian said an editor has to decide what goes in the magazine and must lead a big team of writers, photographers and copy editors.
And his funnest assignment?
“I had to interview an aerobatic pilot,” Ian said. Ian went flying with the pilot, but didn’t vomit. Though a colleague who flew separately was heard shouting over the radio, “Ooooooooh! Oooooooh! OOOOOOOOHH!”
Ian also interviewed the hard-rock guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, who was born in Weston-Super-Mare, founded Deep Purple and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. “He had a reputation for being miserable, but then he asked me about ghosts in Bath, and we had a lovely time,” Ian said. We found this really interesting because according to Year 4, there is also a ghost in our play cupboard.
Some advice Ian gave us: always check our facts; meet deadlines and put our feelings aside when we report. And the third thing we should always carry?
“A second pen,” said Ian. “In case the first one runs out.”