Progress!

This post will work just as well here as on the new Local Edition blog and is a helpful reminder to readers that I'm still here, though commuting much less.


Today I received official confirmation of my Unltd Milennium Award, given to support social enterprise. As long as I can get the forms sent back, this will be a great boost and it is a fabulous network to be involved with.

According to their website, 'UnLtd's social entrepreneurs are real visionaries - people who want to change the world. That doesn't mean they necessarily develop complex, global solutions to large-scale issues; often, social entrepreneurs simply take a problem in their own community and make a commitment to tackle it.'

They also demonstrate (quote):

• Vision


• Determination


• Passion


• Self motivation and self belief


• Flexibility


• Resourcefulness

This is a very nice description and I have enough self belief to think it all applies to me (that's the benefit of being an only child). It carefully misses out their (or at least my) lack of form-filling ability, fear of cold-calling and a slight tendency towards wasting too much time on the internet. And a terrible track record for turning up on time to anything, ever.

The best thing about this project so far has been all the support I've had from other people. People say it's a brave thing to set up a newspaper alone, but I haven't felt alone once in the whole process so far. It is difficult to sell the idea of free newspapers to people, especially in a place where suspicions run high, but when they have become clear on what the paper is setting out to do, they have wanted to help and be involved. Next week, of course, I'll be knocking on a lot of doors following up those offers, so be warned!

On which note, if anybody would like to start writing for the paper please get in touch with your ideas. Everything that comes in will be edited to fit the vision that is currently all in my head and indescribable (it will be great though) so it's the raw ideas I'm most interested in rather than if you're a highly experienced writer. As well as news and information, there will be opinion slots and features about everything that has a relevant angle. Sport is going to be covered by Anthony Munday, who comes very highly recommended, and obviously the more information people send us, the more we can include.

Apologies if my sentences have taken a very long turn. It's been a very long day.