I was once asked at a school careers event by a pupil: “Where do you find your stories?”
The truth is that, if you put yourself about and embed yourself in the community, they find you.
On my first day as a young reporter at The Northern Echo in 1984, the then news editor, Mike Amos, told me: “Get out and about – join clubs and get involved in the community.”
It’s advice I’ve never forgotten. Mike, pictured, is still out there (at the age of 120 or thereabouts), following his own advice. And, 42 years after I first met him, so am I.
Believe me, one of the great joys of being a journalist is when people seek you with a story that’s crying out to be told.