I am Truman Newcombe a 17 year old Media student at Newbury College. I chose to do work experience with Penny Post for a week to learn about how a local news outlet is run and to create my own article and participate in a radio show.
Monday 19 May, Day 1
On the first day we found the house and HQ of Penny Post in East Garston. To start with I was nervous because I didn’t know what to expect but I was made very welcome by Penny and Brian.
When Tyler my fellow student arrived we started to learn the ways a community news outlet works. We also discussed what we were going to be doing for the week and what our topic of choice could be for our personal article. I decided mine would be about the folk singer songwriter Grace Petrie.
Penny introduced us to the WordPress website editing platform and how to use it with Elementor to help format and publish our diaries and our articles.
I also had a call with Pete Brady who is one of the presenters at the 4LEGS radio station to help get some songs for the radio later in the week. I was interested to hear he was one of the first Radio One DJs.
Tyler and I also went for a walk around the villiage to have a break from screen work.When we got back one of Penny and Brian’s cats made me jump. Their three cats are very friendly but by the end of the week realised I could be allergic to cats since I couldn’t stop sneezing.
Tuesday 20 May, Day 2
Started the day by looking at the Penny Post instagram account. Whilst I was loggging onto the computer one of the cats (the one that made me jump) came to say hello.
We had a Zoom call with Sarah the social media manager of Penny Post. We discussed ways to attract attention to the Penny Post website through social media. Tyler and I tested an idea of doing a short form video for their social media. An example of this would be Penny and Brian sat side by side talking about this week’s news.
Tyler and I then started on our articles. I researched some information on Grace Petrie to add to my article as well as writing about my experiences of going to Grace Petrie’s gigs and how I enjoyed them, also talking about how they were different.
Wednesday 21 May, Day 3
I had an early start as I had to get the train from Hungerford into Newbury where we met up with Penny in the Newbury Library. For the first hour we worked on our laptops, writing more on our articles with Penny’s support.
We then joined a meeting with the organizers of Educafe where we had to introduce ourselves. I was nervous because there were a lot of people were in the room but everyone was very nice. It was also a nice surprise to see a college friend doing work experience with Educafe.
After the meeting, Educafe got really busy as all the visitors started arriving from 11am. We then did audio interviews with some of the organisers and volunteers at Educafe, one being Clare Middleton who is one of the founders of Educafe. I asked about Educafe and her thoughts and experiences with it. I also interviewed my friend from college doing work experience to see how she has found it.
Then I updated my blog while I had some lunch. After lunch I edited the audio files in Adobe Premiere to make a track for our show on 4lLEGS radio on Friday. I was pleased to show Penny how to apply a transition between two audio clips on Adobe Premiere.
I also interviewed Lixi Chivas from the Watermill Theatre who volunteers at Educafe, tell children’s stories at the Parent Village and teaching sign language at the Chatty Corner.
Thursday 22 May, Day 4
While Penny and Brian were having a busy day publishing their weekly newsletter, Tyler and I were working at home.
I spent the day adding to my article and clearing up spellng mistakes whilest i lisened to some music.
I also finished up editing the interviews for 4LEGS Radio the next day.
We also had a Zoom meeting with Penny and Ginette Gibson, website editor of Penny Post, who taught us how to add an event to the calender. The event I added was the Victoria Park Family Fun day.
So overall it was a chill day adding and updating everything on the website.
Friday 23 May, Day 5
We started the day by arriving at Penny and Brian’s house before going to the 4LEGS radio studio in Eastbury to do our own show called The Truman and Tyler Show (listen here). We talked with Penny and Brian about our article topics (mine was Grace Petrie, Tyler’s was about speeding in Compton) and our experience with Penny Post and Educafe. I played two of Grace Petrie’s songs (forgetting that one had a swear word at the beginning…).
It was pretty nerve racking starting the show but i got used to it all and I learnt how to operate the mixing desk. I really enjoyed the whole thing and the time went by quickly Even though i don’t listen to the radio it was an interesting experience.
We then came back to update and refine our blogs and articles.
It’s been a busy week and I have really enjoyed my time at Penny Post and feel like I have gained some new experience outside of what I normally do.
