Work Experience - The Bath Chronicle, Day One. Mouse Racing, Abandoned Bunnies and a 12-year-old Picasso

Over Easter, I spent two weeks doing a work placement with The Bath Chronicle, the city's biggest newspaper. As my long-term goal is to go into a career of photojournalism, this was a perfect place to experience how it would be to work as a photojournalist in a professional environment. Splitting my time there between the news desk and the photography department, I was able to gain experience in the expectations of working for a publication that circulates to over 100,000 readers. I thoroughly enjoyed my time there, even though it was completely different to anything I've ever done before and presented many challenges I learned a lot from.

On the first day, I was assigned to the news desk and given three stories to research. A large section of this involved having to formulate questions based on the email sent in by the contact and research, followed by interviewing them about the piece over the telephone.

I then wrote the articles to be published in that week’s paper. Although the articles weren’t about the most glamorous of subjects (mouse racing, abandoned rabbits and a 12-year-old artist to be exact), they were a good place to start and I enjoyed the process of writing the articles.

The first article I was given was about the revival of a local tradition...mouse racing. I was given a printout of an email sent notifying the Chronicle of it happening to read the background information, from which I had to come up with a list of questions to ask the contact over the phone. I wrote down the basic information in bullet points, such as the fact that mouse racing used to be an annual event hosted by Larkhall Sports Club and is now being brought back by popular demand, apparently. I also wrote down that they had an animal behaviour expert to come in to design the track, they were raising money for the Community Sports Club and were looking for sponsors to come in and fund the races, most of which would be run by rescue mice. I then came up with this list of questions:

• How many years did this tradition take place in the past?
• What year did it begin?
• Why did the event stop happening?
• How did it begin, who had the first idea to introduce mouse racing?
• Why mice and not a different animal?
• Name and credentials of animal behaviour expert?
• What exactly are rescue mice?
• What will the funds specifically go to in the development of the Community Sports Club?
• How many sponsors are you expecting to enter?
• Can you outline the process of the mouse race, how they are identified and what is used to lure them to the finish line?

I then phoned the contact, the Commercial Manager or Larkhall Athletic, and asked her the questions on my list, typing as she was talking to try and get all the information down.

I then wrote the article, original of which is shown below:

Mouse Racing Event Back by Popular Demand

Festival-goers who plan on attending the Larkhall Festival this coming weekend may get a chance to see the return of a popular local pastime - mouse racing.

This Sunday evening at 6:00 PM, the race which used to be a popular annual event at the Larkhall Sports Club will occur at the Larkhall Athletic Plain Ham Ground on Charlcombe Lane as part of the Larkhall Festival.

The annual Mouse Race at Larkhall Sports Club had been happening for about 20 to 30 years in the recent past, ending a few years ago with the retirement of the event’s main organisers. Many residents remember the annual races however as a time for the community to gather and view an event that both children and adults could enjoy.

Although mouse racing has faced criticism in the past from animal rights groups such as the RSPCA, the organisers of the race at Larkhall Athletic have made sure the race is within the regulations and fits the process outlined in RSPCA animal racing guidelines. The organisers of the event have commissioned the building of a new track, pictured, by animal behaviour expert Ruth Osborne, holder of a Master’s Degree in the subject from Southampton University.

The mice will be separated into 6 different tracks with a starting line and finishing line. The doors of each track will be opened simultaneously, with mouse bedding infused with the scent of food at the end of the race as a lure to get the mice to the finishing line.

The majority of the mice used in the race will be unwanted rescue mice taken from rescue centres in the local area or mice borrowed from local pet shops, and there is an opportunity for residents to enter their own pet mice to the competition.

Mice can be sponsored or entered into the race for £5 and have a chance to win a £10 cheese voucher from Goodies Delicatessen as the 1st prize.

For those in the crowds who cannot wait to win the cheese as a prize, there will be ploughman’s platters available and a full bar service to toast the winners.

While there will be opportunities to give to local animal shelters or charities at the event, the main proceeds will go towards the development of the Community Sports Club for local Larkhall residents. A non-profit organisation run entirely by volunteers, Larkhall Athletic Community Sports Club currently has 15 youth teams, 4 adult male teams and a ladies team that meet regularly and need a place to be able to gather in the local community.

Races can be sponsored for £25 on a first come, first serve basis. Race sponsors will be able to name one of the six races, feature in publicity of the event and present the prize to the winning mouse sponsor.

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After doing a similar process for the other two articles I was given and sending them to the editor, I then sat in on the Tuesday afternoon meeting between the editor-in-chief, the chief sub-editor and the deputy editor to discuss that week’s stories, leads and front page. In this meeting, I was able to see the inner workings of how a weekly newspaper is produced. They discussed the layout of the paper, the importance of each story in relation to placement and some of the legal issues of confidentiality vs. public interest that their current front-page story was creating.

This was interesting as it allowed me to see the process of creating a weekly, local paper and the issues that the editors face in publishing stories. They gave me a copy of the first draft of the newslist, a paper that had all the stories being written for that week's edition. They also gave me an additional paper that had the 'LIVE' stories written on it, the most newsworthy ones that they decided would be going in the first eight pages.

I enjoyed the first day, as even though I was thrown in the deep end so to speak, the experience of having to write articles on the first day to a deadline gave me the confidence to do more of the same to a higher standard for the rest of my time there.