Danielle Pidgeon Media
JOURNALISM ARTICLES
Remembrance Service at Grand Central
The first remembrance service at the new Grand Central memorial was held this morning to commemorate fallen railway comrades who served in World War One.
The emotional event included heart wrenching war poems, bible readings, hymns and prayers accompanied by pianist Jeff Adams.
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The last post played by Sue Sollis was followed by a two-minute silence to show respect for the soldiers.
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Six wreaths were laid by someone from each company at the station; British Transport Police, Network Rail, New Street Station, London Midland, Virgin trains and Cross Country trains.
Andrew Hall, Railway Mission Chaplain and organiser of the event said: “This event is important as the railway are proud of their heritage and are committed to upholding the remembrance tradition.”
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He also said: “There was a whole team of people to make sure the event was a success, from providing electricity to the five hundred pound investment of the new plants in the memorial.” He thanked the extra security present and Bar One who graciously closed their only entrance while the event was taking place.
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The event gathered an impressive turnout of one hundred and fifty people compared to thirty the previous year. Andrew Hall said: “It’s good to see this many people here, it really shows how much the railway community treasures the event.” Other staff commented: “It was a bigger turn out than last year.”
Wylde Green Community Hall under threat of closure
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At the annual Wylde Green Neighbourhood Forum meeting on the 22nd November it was brought to the attention of the residents that the Wylde Green Community Hall is under the threat of closure.
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Due to a £50 million overspend of their budget, in April Birmingham City Council withdrew funding of the community hall as it is in their opinion running at a loss.
David Barrie, Town Councillor said: “It’s ridiculous that the council are no longer funding our hall, it is used every day by the residents and without it, there will be a great loss to the community.”
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There are proposals to save the hall in conjunction with Walmley Library and Community Centre in order to help keep it running.
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David Barrie said: “We think we should be able to break-even, maybe even make a small profit, I don’t care how we do it but we will do everything in our power to save our hall.”
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A petition has now been set in motion, click here to sign: http://www.wyldegreen.com/wylde-green-community-hall-petition-newhall-ward/
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For more information about the Wylde Green Neighbourhood Forum visit their official website: http://www.wyldegreen.com/
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Or their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/WGNFTOO/
“Storytelling that ties platforms together” Stefan Shaw on why BBC 3 moved online and more
Everyone was shocked when BBC 3 was removed from our TV screens and transferred onto an online platform. An interview with Stefan Shaw the creative director of the BBC guerrilla unit and Birmingham City university students revealed why this happened.
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He said: “BBC 3 moved content online because that's where the audience is” and that “the next generation of TV is already here” as many people are using social media and do not watch TV anymore.
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He also said: “TV is radically changing as stories are now existing on different platforms.” One example of this is '#Findthegirl' which was a live social media character that ran alongside the programme 'Thirteen' and can be found here http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/tag/find-the-girl
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Shaw said Birmingham would be the new hub for talent as they are currently working with Birmingham City university and that in the future the BBC would want to work with the people from Birmingham as they are diverse.
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He commented that through this project the audiences voice could be heard in the content they make and that students can be involved in the research and that hearing what people think, feedback is important. He even invited some Birmingham City university students to be part of a session where they give him their feedback on some of the content that he and his team makes.
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The BBC guerrilla unit has made exclusive content for Snapchat including behind the scenes, mini documentaries, comedy content and a new and upcoming horror feature. He described these content shapes as “unheard of” with 10 second pieces of content being new and exciting.
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Their goal is to always be changing, continuing to create content whilst taking risks. As well as creating content for Snapchat they have also made a cooking programme on Instagram, created content on Twitter and are using Facebook live to put programmes online.
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To check out their content on Snapchat add the username 'BBCTHREE' and look out for the horror feature which will only be available for 24 hours.
Employees blast company after jobs outsourced to India
40 DTZ employees are set to leave the property managing business following a merger between C&W and DTZ. Due to a business decision, many finance roles have been outsourced to Chennai, India.
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On the 16th November, I saw approximately 40 people leaving their work building earlier than normal. They said they were going for farewell drinks at The Cozy Club for some colleagues who were being made redundant.
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It was revealed that many have a family to provide for and some have been working for the company for several years. An ex-employee, Julia Allen said: “I thought I had a job for life.”
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Another previous employee said: “It’s just typical, they were terrible to work for anyway.”
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With the decision to outsource jobs so close to Christmas many employees are concerned about how they are going to be able afford presents for their families at this special time. Trinity Bennett said: “The kids are going to be so disappointed on Christmas day.”
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On the other hand, some employees weren’t too distressed as one ex-employee, Santina Hopton said: “I see it as a new beginning, I was too settled in the job and this is the push I needed to start afresh.”