lizalawstraineereporter

More me...

2004-05-03T09:28:00.000+01:00

My lovely friend Justin (who made this site for me) has managed to make me look quite cool on another one he has set up, have a look at: www.smithsmuchiknow.blogspot.com

Hoaaaaarse Riding

2004-04-23T15:25:00.000+01:00

Well I'm not exactly hoarse because I didn't scream out loud but if you can be inwardly hoarse, then that's what I am...blimey, been a while since I rode a horse. Isn't it funny how much scarier things get when you're older? I asked for an old duffer in the hope that it would plod along at a lovely slow pace...And that's what she did at first and I thought to myself 'Bracken, you and I are going to get on fine.'
We plod towards Wolstonbury Hill and our guide, Lisa, says: "Give her a little tap to speed her up a bit" - I have to admit that she was doing the equestrian version of pigeon steps but I was safe. Through the first gate, the sun is shining and you can see out across the Downs for miles, I breathe in the fresh air and relax.
"Everybody stop your horses" bellows Lisa. 'Excellent' I think to myself 'we're going to get off and have a walk' wrong. "Is it alright if we go to a canter?" she says. Every bit of me screams 'noooooooo!' inside but with 5 pairs of eyes fixed upon me I hear myself saying 'yeah, fine, no problem' - I couldn't believe I said it but I did. The next thing I know I am clinging on to the saddle for dear life and hurtling across the countryside. And there's me thinking my horse could barely walk...
I could actually feel the 3 sausages that I had eaten for breakfast, bouncing about in my belly and my breasts were very ungraciously thrown out of their scaffolding, ouch. Still it didn't go on for too long and then I didn't know what was worse, my horse, it would seem, hadn't been fed for a week and jerked his head down to munch on whatever greenery took his fancy, I had absolutely no control of him whatsoever.
Jeremy, ex army bloke in proper jodphurs and everything, who learnt to ride at Sandhurst seemed a little irritated by Bracken's eating habits and decided to take matters into his own hands, narrowly avoiding decapitating me with a low branch. I don't know what he did to my horse (slapped his arse I think) but we are walking slowly down a very narrow bridle path, Bracken is eating and stopping, eating and stopping and all of a sudden, he bolts. As stated previously, I had no control over him whatsoever. Lucky for me, I ducked, as I am not joking when I say my head would have been ripped off and it would have rolled into a ditch, thank you Jeremy. Luckily Katie, his wife, berated him sufficiently. I was too busy putting my breasts back in place discreetly.
So a long and uneventful ride back to Pyecombe village, more trotting and a final canter (that I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed.) By the time we got back to the stable I was feeling quite attached to my horse. But on dismounting, I noticed he was sweating profusely, can't think why......

Ouch to, ouch to, ouch to be a Goooner....

2004-04-10T10:45:00.000+01:00

It has been painful, but not just mild pain that I will recover from quickly, it is a deeper sense of mourning and loss, which, to non-Gooner's will sound utterly self absorbent but I don't care. My team, what has happened to my team? Last night, as I sit in the quiet, French village of Tourbes, I watch a half hearted Good Friday celebration centred around Thierry Henry. He got a hat-trick against Liverpool but we were still, at one point, losing. The celebrations were tepid, the players have clearly not recovered from, well, um, dare I say the word again, losing. I think that this is where some of the pain comes in, the fact is, we are not used to losing and when you're not used to something, when it happens, it hits you.
We have gone from 3 titles to 1, we played blinders and then we burnt out. People keep asking me what went wrong, why are they asking me and why do they always sound like they are laughing when they talk about it?
Do none of these people understand that it really isn't funny....at all? All I can do is put my hopes on the premiership and pray for a comeback next season...and try and forgive Freddie...

Matchbox Memories

2004-04-01T12:24:00.000+01:00

Matchbox Memories is an exhibition at the Hackney Museum, it has been
runnning from March 16th and continues until August 28th.

This exhibition will provoke a wide range of emotions for a huge number of
people, in particular, the residents of Hackney. People have travelled
from as far as New Zealand to see the Matchbox Toys that bring childhood
memories flooding back.

It all started in 1947 when two school friends, Leslie Smith and Rodney
Smith, combined their surnames to create 'Lesney Products.' Their
intention was to make die cast products for industrial use. By 1949, the
company had moved to a factory in Hackney.

It was not long before the third member, John (Jack) Odell joined the
company as a specialist engineer and it was he who invented the first toy.
They started experimenting with toys when the demand for industrial
products was slow.

The exhibition speaks volumes about the success that the company had after
it switched its attention from industrial products to toy cars, on one of
the museum's walls, there is a large, clear time line explaining the highs
and lows of the company from when it began, to when it was taken over.

Dinky Cars were sold to Woolworths in boxes of 12 for a bargain price
making the toys available to a larger market, in the centre of the room,
there is a glass case full of Matchbox cars, the very cars that were
selling at 100 million per year by 1966, the same cars that got the
company into the Guinness Book of Records and provided Leslie Smith and
Jack Odell with OBEs.

Keith Smith, 46, from Romford was happy to see the exhibition: "It has
brought back so many happy memories of my childhood, I went to the factory
on a careers visit in 1970 and it was absolutely lovely."

On the walls surrounding the whole room are vivid and lively murals
painted by local artist, May Ayres, she has captured working life at the
factory and made it look like a happy and fun place to be, it is easy to
imagine the benefits of having a job there.

It was this factory that makes the exhibition so symbolic for the
residents of Hackney. Erica Davies is Head of Hackney Museum, she said:
"There are no official archives of Lesneys, these have come from a
collector, we have made it an aural archive and focused on the community
around Hackney, it's recording the memories of the factory workers, it was
such an important part of Hackney."

There are two screens in the room, they are playing films of interviews of
local people who worked in the factory, it is moving and amazing what a
huge impact that one company has had on a community. There is a sound
dome that is suspended from the ceiling opposite one screen, when you
stand directly below it, it seems as though the people on the screen are
addressing you personally.

Helena Wetterberg, who is behind the exhibition made the films. "She
advertised in the Hackney Gazette and also on the Matchbox webites, she
had a good response. She went to their homes and listened to their
stories," explained Erica.

Listening to the employees, they are all enthusiastic about their old
employers, they go into great detail about life in the factory, about
their jobs, what they did and how they did it. It would seem that they
were very good employers that really looked after their staff.

Simon Goff, 26, a Campaigns Producer had listened to the entire film and
was touched by the words he heard. "It's a sad story of urban decline,
people lost their jobs, they were bought out and production was too
expensive. It must've been a real blow to the local community, they
employed 3000 people. I think it's great that they are honouring a
company that brought pride to Hackney."

That is exactly what the exhibition highlights, the pride of Hackney, yes
it is a sad story but it is also a happy one because it created so many
memories for so many people.

Arsing About in Arsenal

2004-03-22T20:59:00.000Z

What a brilliant weekend, now that I have got over getting older, I can go back to enjoying life. On Saturday morning, I woke up feeling delicate having spent the night drinking wine and singing with my brother and his girlfriend. However, there is one thing guaranteed to get me out of bed without hesitation, my beloved Arsenal.
Most years, my brother manages to get me tickets around my birthday, this year I was going with Humphrey and Matt who are fellow Gooners from my course. First hiccup, the tickets that were posted on Thursday by my brother's mate Menno hadn't arrived in the post, I was told not to panic though as there was a straightforward process for getting substitutes, we needed to contact Menno and get his details, we tried a few times but couldn't get hold of him. Jeremy (bro) told me to get on the train and that it would be sorted, so I hop on apprehensively having sent Matt and Humpers mildly hysterical texts only to be called by my brother and told to get off the train at Tonbridge (he lives in Tunbridge Wells) as the tickets had arrived, what a relief.

So I disembark as instructed and as I watch the train heave onto London, my mobile goes again, it's Jeremy "stay on the train, they're the wrong tickets, these are Champions League." Tonbridge station isn't the most cheerful of places, but my brother consoles me with the news that he has made contact with Menno and I am to call him in half an hour.

I spend the journey (on the next train that is too busy to get a seat and old and smelly) chatting to my mate Nic about the previous night's events and before I know it, I am pulling into Waterloo, at which point Menno calls me with all his details, name, address, date of birth, seat, row and block numbers. In fact, just about every bit of information we could possibly need, so I continued my journey to Arsenal feeling comforted, Cinderella shall go to Highbury.

We had arranged to meet at Arsenal tube, usually we meet at Highbury and Islington but we made a group decision to get the tickets sorted before pre-match drinks at The Barn, as is tradition. Bloody good job too...

I was 20 minutes early so decided to have a wander up and down the tacky stalls and picked myself up a nice, greasy, chewy hot dog. Saw some beautifully tacky t-shirts, there is a lot to be said for tack, I personally think. Decided against buying a laminated and signed picture of Freddie, it was tacky but not quite tacky enough...made my way back to the tube station and was met shortly after by a very excited Humpers, we waited for Matt for a further 15 minutes and stood absorbing the atmosphere. Watching fathers bring their star struck children off the tube and pointing through the houses, giving them their first glimpse of Highbury - there was almost an element of romance until you heard the touts convincing two Asian tourists that the cheapest seats they're going to get together are £80 each "and that's cheap..."

Once Matt had got to us, I thrust the crumpled postik note under their noses and told them to memorise all the information that was on it, in order to convince the ticket people that they really were brothers called Menno and Quentin Faulkner, I thought it would be so easy....we walked along and Humpers, did briefly try, to convince me that Menno could be a girl's name but soon gave up. Matt walked along chanting the information mantra style and apart from a few mis-pronounciations, I thought he had it!

We queue up behind a man who is clearly blagging his tickets but feel relatively confident. The woman who greets us at the window is scary. Matt starts telling her the sorry tale about how he's left his season tickets and wallet at home.

"Name?" she barks
"Milo" says Matt
Milo she writes down, I nudge Matt and whisper hoarsely "Menno"
"No sorry, it's Nemo" says Matt
"Nemo" she repeats crossing out Milo.
I have to speak up "but their surname's Faulkner"
She sighs and starts looking decidedly pissed off.
"And what's your name?" she says, glaring at Humpers, who looks bemused but isn't panicking as his season ticket's in his pocket.
Matt and Humpers exchange glances. Last straw.
"Look you two, do you know what your names are, are these your tickets?"
"Yes, yes, my name's Quentin," beams Humpers and I am about to lose it because they are starting to look like a pair of simpletons.
She disappears for what seems like an age and then reappears.
"Address?" she asks wearily.

Somehow Matthew was home safe, he recited the address perfectly and without hesitation and I have to say that I think that's what clinched it. Having to put £100 deposit down on my card was the least painful bit but the laughter when we had the crucial pieces of paper in our hands and were walking up the hill towards the Barn, almost made it worth it.
"Milo" one of us would scream, "Nemo" someone else would collapse....I have to say it was a brilliant day. The first half was awesome, the second half decidedly average and Freddie was awful but I had a thoroughly enjoyable birthday treat made magic by my two bumbling friends. Thank you Matt, thank you Humpers, we must do it again soon!

Lawsy.

Perving over Paris!

2004-03-19T11:07:00.000Z

Liza Laws
Interview with Paris Campbell Edwards.

Few people will have forgotten the beautiful man with the soulful, velvety voice that starred in last year’s Fame Academy, screened on BBC1.

Paris Campbell-Edwards was the eighth person to be evicted from the house, which was a tragedy, he was the best by far and was robbed of winning the show.

However, Paris is a determined young man and nothing will stand in the way of him and his music, he was born to perform. Born in Greenwich, the 24-year-old was influenced by his musical parents.

“My Mum and Dad used to dance for the Roxy Rollers and my Dad was in Starlight Express, he had a couple of songs out but I think he was bigger in Asia."

Paris performed in Po Na Na’s on East Street on Tuesday night, giving the clubbers a massive treat, I caught up with him before and after the show.

He went down a storm with the crowd, they couldn’t seem to get enough of him when he performed his tracks Letting Go, Until the End and Scream, and it was refreshing to hear such rich vocals. He has elements of Lenny Kravitz and Curtis Mayfield but his own unique sound really shines through, making for very pleasant listening.
MF

Paris is a frequent visitor to Brighton, he said: “My mates from school are down here, they studied at University and are still here, I come down to Brighton quite often, I really like it but because of what I’m doing, I can’t be down here all the time.”

Paris hasn’t signed a contract yet but it won’t be long before we start seeing and hearing a lot more from him. “I have recorded 24 tracks already and I’m going to record some more when I am in New York next month,” said the singer.

Paris is a charming person with huge amounts of talent, there is no doubt whatsoever that the public will be blessed with his gift in the very near future.

Benzo addiction vs the tabloid hack

2004-03-18T20:19:00.000Z

Benzodiazepines are a type of medication known as tranquilizers. Familiar names include Valium and Xanax. It is one of the most commonly prescribed medications but it is fast turning into a drug being abused. Doctors prescribe benzos to reduce anxiety, insomnia, alcohol withdrawal, seizure control, muscle relaxation, for amnesia before uncomfortable procedures and it can be given before an anesthetic.

I have been dealing with a young man, who I will not name for the time being, who has been taking benzos since he was 12 years old. He is now going through treatment to help him reduce the issues surrounding his drug abuse, it is not just benzos that he is addicted to, but it is the drug that he is most terrified about stopping, he doesn't think he can.

Tomorrow (March 19th), he is giving me over an hour of his time so that I can probe into every detail of his life, starting from the beginning - what triggered him to start substance misusing and at such a young age, where he has been, mentally, throughout his life, his family unit, his feelings and his fear of getting off benzos. Whether he sees himself, one day, getting completely clean and where he would like to be in a drug free safe world.

I am so honoured that someone who I have only worked with for a short time, is allowing me into their head. Someone who trusts me not to take advantage of their trust and to report facts truthfully and fairly and to tell it like it is, not how some media whores would like it to be.

One of my objections to certain areas of the course that I am doing, NCTJ Newspaper Journalism, (and I stress a very small area) is that there are certain tutors that are hell bent on getting the goriest, most tabloid chilling tales, disregarding people's feelings like bulldozers over eggshells. I was never cut out to destroy people in order to make headlines and if that makes me a bad tabloid hack, then so be it, stick me on G2 any day.

The people I work with when I'm not writing...

2004-03-18T12:46:00.000Z

The Maze

Former heroin and crack user, Simon Phethean, 32, from Eastbourne coordinates a support group for current and former drug users. It is called The Maze and is situated on Orchard Road, next to the probation services.

Simon is a former client of the Turnaround Project and it was whilst he was on the programme that he was asked if he was willing to start The Maze.

He said: “The staff asked me if I could accept the responsibility and dedicate my time to helping others, it keeps me linked to the Turnaround Project so I was happy to do it.”

Open from 7-9pm every Thursday, the group aims to target those who can’t access other support groups. “A lot of people are working and using at the same time, they can’t attend Turnaround or any of the others that are in the day, at least they can attend The Maze and get some of the support they need.”

The drop-in offers a wide range of information about other services in the area and Simon and his co-worker, Chelsea Beaten, also from Eastbourne, give the best individual advice and relate it to the exact situation that the person’s in.

Simon hopes to run the group loosely structured around the 12 steps theory which is used by groups such as Narcotics Anonymous. The door is open for people that are still taking drugs as well as for those who are recovering.

Simon finished at Turnaround in September this year and had been addicted to drugs for 15 years prior to attendance. With the help of Turnaround, he withdrew from crack and heroin in just three months.

“The Maze is a way of keeping myself safe, I am strong minded and I can cope with addicts walking through the door, it won’t affect my recovery. This is my way of giving something back.”

For further information or advice, please call: 07765 6779812, alternatively call in on Thursday between 7-9pm at 55 Old Orchard Road
Liza Laws.

Brighton's Sophie Abbott

2004-03-17T20:55:00.000Z

Pubs are not the first place you would expect to find such an eclectic mixture of cultured people, yet the Lord Nelson on Trafalgar Street is different.

For starters, it’s manager, Sophie Abbott, 28, is a successful Brighton artist, her husband Rob is a talented musician. The pair live above the pub and manage to combine their art, music and run a busy and successful venue.

Originally from Leamington Spa, Warwick, Sophie discovered her talent for art at school, she then went on to do art A level followed by a BTEC in Art and Design at Mid Warwickshire college.

From there, Sophie began her journey down South and started her degree in Chichester, here she studied art and related arts specialising in painting. “I also studied dance, media, film studies, surrealism and post modernism, it was a three year course.

“The final year was brilliant, we had a term in Portugal, I drove down there with 2 blokes from my course and we took hundreds of photos, we filled sketchbooks and painted the sunsets every night. The body of the work was for our final show,” Sophie said.

After graduating, Sophie and her friends spent the summer picking flowers in Chichester, it was here that she met her husband, Rob. “He was in charge of the students, except we weren’t really students anymore,” laughed Sophie.

After the summer, Sophie moved to Brighton. “Chichester’s a conservative town, it’s better being in Brighton with like minded people, it’s a more creative environment, it seems more normal to be involved in the arts here.”

It was in 1997 that Sophie started working part-time at the Lord Nelson and Spring 2000 when she was offered the manager’s position, that included the upstairs apartment.

The transition from part-time to full-time should have meant less time for painting, but for Sophie, the opposite seemed to happen. “I don’t know, I suppose the more you’ve got to do, the more you do. I’m painting more now than I have ever done and it’s hard to explain why this is, I guess it’s because I have certain artistic commitments, I’ve just got loads of paintings I want to make, you’ve only got one shot at life and I want to make the most of it.”

Sophie has a studio upstairs, where she escapes from the hustle and bustle of downstairs to concentrate on her paintings, luckily for her, the pub has a conservatory which makes a perfect gallery for her work. Her recent set of paintings, based on New York have sparked a lot of interest from punters.

“My art life and my pub life are so far apart, when I paint, I’m on my own in my own space, then I go downstairs and have to be really sociable but I can make the transition quite easily.”

Sophie’s art is inspired from her travels, she has been to Thailand and produced a set of Thai themed paintings and from Portugal, she produced Mediterranean landscapes, seascapes abstract in nature.

“I like to create an atmosphere of a place, we went to St Lucia on honeymoon and I painted lots of Caribbean landscapes, every year there’s a different theme, depending on where I have travelled to.”

The latest New York inspired paintings depict the skylines, there is more industry than landscape, the colours are amazing, they are incredibly bright and stimulating.

“People see what they want to see, I did this Greece show and this bloke was like ‘wow it’s Shoreham Harbour’, which was hilarious but proves that my paintings can be where you want them to be.”

Colour is clearly very important to Sophie, the paintings themselves are layers and layers of colours, Sophie likes colours to work really well next to each other, to vibrate off each other. “I like vibrant colours to make things stand out, a bit like a hologram.”

In terms of selling her art, Sophie found she had quite a lot of commissioned work following the end of her degree. “People saw my art at the final show and friends and family were supporting me to give me a bit of a leg up, I really was skint all the time.”

To start with in Brighton, Sophie had exhibitions in cafes and at a few art fairs, then a friend of hers, who was working in the Tin Drum at the Seven Dials decided to set up an arts promotions business.

“She was desperate to set it up, which she has now done, her name is Lara and her business is called Fourwalls. There’s so many artists who feel really embarrassed about walking round and promoting their art, so it’s brilliant for me because she does all the leg work. She represents a lot of Brighton artists.”

Sophie has a few exhibitions coming up, including one at The Affordable Art Fair, an annual event held in Battersea Park. This event enables first time buyers a chance to browse without pressure while learning more about art. None of the pieces on show will be over £2,500 and they will come from leading galleries, dealers and studio groups from both the UK and abroad.

“I have got a metre and a half allocated to me and I’ll have sixteen paintings of all different shapes and sizes. I’ll probably have ten on show and six in storage and as one sells, I can replace it with another one – you don’t want to find yourself in a position where you have blank spaces on the wall.”

There are exciting times ahead for Sophie, as well as the Affordable Arts Fair, she also has the Brighton Festival coming up and will be exhibiting in an open house. The Lord Nelson are also housing some paintings as part of the festival, a Thai artist who currently still lives in Thailand, it is said to be ‘exotically twisted’ show.

For more information about Sophie and her work, or ‘Fourwalls’ the agency supporting artists like Sophie, please contact Lara Bowen: 01273 694405. Alternatively, keep an eye out for works by Sophie Abbott during the Brighton Festival or in the Lord Nelson’s gallery.

Ends
1023 words

Turning 27...

2004-03-17T09:59:00.000Z

...has been a bit of an eye opener for me, I think I actually physically felt myself grow up. Considering my New Year's res was to have as much fun and lose my conscience, it seems a little ironic. My mother's day after birthday speech also didn't annoy me, which is amazing. She was telling me to knuckle down and that I could really make a go of my writing career and that this was my one big chance, best thing was, I think I had already reached this point in my mind but hearing it from Mum cemented it. It is amazing how much a hectic social life can affect you, you tire, you kill brain cells by drinking too much, your health suffers and it is nearly impossible to focus on what is important. Don't get me wrong, I am not, by any stretch of the imagination, turning into a puritan and I don't feel the need to start attending meetings but I just have to devote a different proportion of my life to working hard and achieving the things that I can achieve. I will also need to read this self-lecture several times a day to resist the calling.

Happy Birthday!

2004-03-15T09:08:00.000Z

Hi Liza, welcome to your very own website!

It's pretty much self-sufficent and you will be able to look after it yourself without much help.

To post articles or whatever go to www.blogger.com and sign in with the username and password I gave you. It should be pretty explanatory what you need to do but let me know if you need any coaching. You can post to your website from anywhere with internet access.

You can also build your own list of favourite websites to go under the link section on the right. Just go to www.blogrolling.com and sign in with the same username and password as you have on Blogger. The rest should be easy.

On top of that, you have a photoblog where you can post photographs from your digital camera. Go to www.buzznet.com and sign in with the username lizalaws and the same password as before. It'll explain how you can send photos to your site by email. Your five most recent photos will appear over on the right of this site.

If you click on the visitor count on the right it will take you to your visitor statistics which will tell you all about the lovely people who have visited the site. Just log in with the same password as everything else.

The only thing left is to let me know what you would like putting in the about me section on the right. If you dig out the details for your domain name we can also point it at this site.

If you think of anything you'd like adding to the site or if you want to change the colours or whatever just let me know. We can jazz it up over time. If you've got a photo you like I can put it on the site if you want.

Have Fun!

Lots of love

Just
xxxx

PS. You can delete this article when you've made a note of what you need.