Hours before Colonel Gadaffi delivered his defiant speech in Tripoli, protesters gathered in Bournemouth to express their anger at the deaths of protestors in Libya.
Journalism students from Up To Speed covered the demonstration by British residents from Libya.
Our photography tutor Neil Turner was also there to capture the moment.
By Matt Kelly
BEFORE my interview with Olivia, I watch in silence as she asks one of her fellow trainee journalists a series of questions she will use to compile a profile.
Her questions are clearly well thought out as the interview quickly turns into what appears to be a casual chat, putting her subject at ease. This obviously isn’t her first time.
Olivia Blackamore is 28 and is originally from Nottingham. At around 5ft 4″ and smartly dressed, she seems totally prepared to begin a professional media career.
When I ask her where she wants to be after completing her NCTJ journalism qualifications, Olivia responds with admirable ambition: “I want to be a household name in ten years.”
Her dream job would be on BBC Breakfast news or a topical programme like The One Show.
These are clearly not unfounded aspirations. Before moving to Bournemouth, Olivia worked for community radio station Harborough FM in Leicestershire for two years, co-presenting the Sunday Night Show and Drive-Time shows.
Before this she worked for the civil service providing grants for people with disabilities. But she left after the birth of her second child, Harrison, who is two and a half.
“I have spent the last two years at home with the children focusing on what I wanted and what I wanted for them.”
Olivia now lives in Market Harborough in South Leicestershire with Harrison and her other child, four-year-old Eva, and their father.
Leaving her children was clearly difficult for Olivia. “Everything I am doing now is for them, moving to Bournemouth and doing this course. My main drive is to get a good job so that I can provide the best possible future for my children.”
Although moving to Bournemouth has clearly had its problems, one good thing has come from Olivia’s move south.
After reconnecting via social networking site Facebook, she has moved in with her friend Sarah, who she hadn’t seen for ten years.
“It’s been great, it’s like we never missed each other. It’s like an extension of uni!”
By Dominic Bryant
MATT KELLY is not one to shy away from making ambitious statements.
“I want to change the face of golf,” he says unflinchingly. “It is not just an old man’s sport.”
His desire is unquestionable and extends not just to golf but all sports.
He dreams of such things as the 2014 World Cup final in Brazil, and holding close to him a pen and notepad, scribbling furiously away, watching the match of all matches.
Matt is an enthusiastic, aspiring journalist. At the ripe old age of 23 he already has worked as a freelance writer for a local newspaper.
After four months as a freelance, Matt felt it was time he warranted paid full-time work, but he was turned down because he didn’t have an NCTJ qualification.
Not one to linger, he set his sights towards travelling, gaining a job in factory work making windows in the process, a job he described as “difficult, due to my incredible lack of common sense”.
After earning the money he needed Matt set off around Europe, South East Asia, Australia and New Zealand for seven months.
But the trip wasn’t all carefree travelling. While sitting in a shanty restaurant waiting to cross the border from Cambodia into Thailand, Matt witnessed a sight he could hardly believe.
“A man just ran straight up to this guy and shot him in the face,” he said. “I was literally shaking for ten minutes.”
Matt later found out the shooting was drugs-related and this reaffirmed his belief in being strongly against drugs.
But the experience didn’t sour Matt’s travels and after seven months of touring the globe, he returned to the south coast of England intent on gaining an NCTJ sports journalism qualification.
Citing the sports desk at The Guardian as the best in newspaper journalism, Matt envies the likes of Sid Lowe (a sports writer for The Guardian and World Soccer) who lives in Spain and reports on Barcelona and Real Madrid, as well as big matches in the Premiership.
“It’s the job you would just love to have,” he says with such enthusiasm that you know while it may still be a dream for Matt, it could soon be a reality.
By Alice Rook
YOU’D be forgiven for thinking that blond fresh-faced Lee Ames had only just graduated.
Far from it.
Now 31, Lee has a lot to show for himself. He has been married to Claire for four months, he has a beautiful toddler named Joseph and they are expecting their next child in August. The bump is aptly named “Bumphrey”.
Lee is a born-and-bred Dorset lad. He was born in Poole Hospital and spent his childhood living with his family in Upton. He now lives in Dorchester.
Despite being born on April 1, Lee is no fool. He knows what he wants and he’s out to get it.
He applied for the journalism training course Up To Speed in Bournemouth because he “desperately, desperately wanted a career that inspired me”.
After graduating from Southampton University in 2001 with a degree in Sports and Business, he began his career as a teacher.
He taught PE, including football, cricket, tennis, rugby, and lacrosse, for just over two years at a boys’ secondary school.
But he decided that teaching wasn’t his vocation and took a job in social services.
After five years of working as a resident child-care worker in West Moors, he decided it was time to pursue his dream of sports journalism.
Lee is set to pass his NCTJ Diploma in Journalism in June this year. He feels sure his insatiable appetite for a range of sports will translate into journalism gold.
Proof of the pudding? He claims that if his house flooded and he was granted one item that he could save, it would be his golf clubs!
Once Lee gains his qualifications at Up To Speed, he aspires to be a top-notch sports reporter.
And once his career is settled, he hopes that Claire can be a stay-at-home mum. “I feel the need to provide for my family immensely,” he said.
Lee admits that juggling his time between his family and the Up To Speed course is taking its toll. “I permanently feel tired these days. There’s always such a lot going on. My biggest priority is time management.”
It’s great to know that Ames manages to keep his feet firmly on the ground despite the strains and pressures that day-to-day life throws at him: he spends his spare time watching comedy programmes like My Name Is Earl and drinking scrumpy.
by Lee Ames
WHEN you first meet Alice Rook you can’t help but feel comfortable in her presence. Even though it is her being quizzed, she somehow puts you at ease.
Alice, 21, currently lives with her parents in Broadstone, Poole. After attending the independent Talbot Heath School in Bournemouth, where she was offered a scholarship due to sporting and academic potential, Alice studied at Exeter University, gaining a high 2:1 in English Literature.
It was at university that Alice took her first steps towards a career as a journalist when she wrote for the student paper Expose reviewing albums and attending gigs.
Alice currently works for the monthly magazine DV8 every Friday where she gets to review films, compile celebrity profiles and organise competitions.
She cites Fearne Cotton and Jonathan Ross as sources of inspiration and with her vast array of knowledge concerning music and film it is quite easy to imagine Alice fulfilling her dream of working for OK or Heat magazine.
But Alice is no star-struck celebrity wannabe. If you dig deeper into her past, you can discover a very talented and determined young lady, but not one that likes to shout about it.
Her reluctance in offering up her considerable achievements while representing Dorset at tennis is matched only by her modesty when revealing she has achieved Grade 8 on the saxophone and toured such places as Paris and Prague with her university jazz band.
Alice appears to have the whole package: brains, looks and talent. This makes it even more surprising to find there is no significant other (at the moment).
It was a pleasure to find out more about such a genuinely engaging young lady. If anyone deserves a little luck in their pursuit for the dream job, it’s Alice. But I don’t think luck will come into it.
By Ruth Norris
JASMIN SNOOK is currently located somewhere between the towns of “party girl” and “career woman”.
At just 18 years old, she is the youngest in her journalism training class at Up to Speed in Bournemouth, but she is already extremely ambitious.
Jasmin Snook: looking to the future
Having tried out a variety of roles in print and broadcast, she’s keeping an open mind about which journalistic field she’ll end up in.
“I change my mind about it all the time,” says Jasmin, who lives in Broadstone, Dorset.
“I tried radio and I loved it, so I thought that was definitely what I wanted to do. Then I tried writing and again, loved it, and thought maybe I’d like to do that instead. Now I try not to pigeon-hole myself too much.”
Jasmin is certainly no push-over, and says she can be “very vocal” when it comes to expressing her opinions.
But she doesn’t get involved in the petty drunken rows common among the regular Friday night party-goers in Bournemouth.
She saves her feisty side for times when she needs to stand up for herself against those who may mistake her petite 5’1” self for an easy target.
“I once stalked a guy all the way to his house to tell him off,” she laughs.
“I’d just passed my driving test so I was a bit nervous on the road, and this guy was tail-gating me and trying to intimidate me into breaking the speed limit. I ended up following him the whole way home and when he got out his car, I let him know exactly what I thought of him.”
When asked about what else she might see in her future, she is quick to say that marriage and kids simply aren’t on the agenda. Ever.
“I get bored too quickly for all that,” she says. Jasmin confesses that she has been in a serious relationship and “yes, I was in love”, but it ran out of steam and now she’s single, and is planning to stay that way for the foreseeable future.
And who in her position would want to be tied down? She’s a confident, pretty teenager who is looking forward to starting at Bournemouth University in the autumn, and is planning to take full advantage of the rich and varied university social life (or crazy freshers’ binge party as it’s more commonly known).
Jasmin is undoubtedly a girl who’s going places – and she’d better get there quickly or she’s going to get bored.
By Olivia Blackamore
FOLLOWING his whistlestop tour of the globe (three continents in four months), 19-year-old Dominic Bryant decided it was time to focus on what he loves and kick start his career with an NCTJ Diploma course at Up to Speed Journalism in Bournemouth.
At school in his home county of Buckinghamshire, Dom published the sixth form magazine as well as gaining work experience with the Buckingham Herald. But writing isn’t his only passion.
Taking flight: Dom Bryant
Dom is fanatical about sport and has no hesitation in revealing that he discovered Newcastle United at the age of four.
An interesting choice of team for a Buckinghamshire boy but his ardour for them is obvious.
“I’ve only actually seen them play twice because they’re so far north,” he confesses, laughing.
It will come as no surprise that the dream for this southern “Magpie” is to carve out a successful career as a sports journalist.
So who is Dom away from the job?
“Flamboyant, ditzy and funny” are the three words he uses to sum himself up. There’s not much evidence of the first two, but humorous he is and honest with it, citing “going out too much” as his potential downfall in trying to achieve his dream.
It was reassuring to hear that Dom is approaching the NCTJ course with the same eager anticipation that I certainly feel. The shorthand he finds a challenge and the prospect of his first interview and profile piece he describes as “daunting”.
Dom’s dedication to reaching the dizzy heights of success is clear. He’s keen to stress that his perfect weekend would, unquestionably, have to involve “going to do a profile on a sports star or reporting on a match”.
He quickly adds that spending a great day with his girlfriend, Bonita, would be an integral part of the ideal weekend.
Dom’s quite understated about his relationship with Bonita. She’s 20, she lives in London, they’ve enjoyed a three-year relationship and she’s currently undertaking a patisserie course.
“She keeps me in cakes,” he says. But his eyes are bright and dancing and it’s obvious that Bonita is very special.
I’m impressed by Dom. He’s very focused and assured. He’s seen the world and now that he’s come back, he’s ready to take it by the throat. Success is definitely within his grasp.