MEMORIES OF A BRIGG NEWSPAPER REPORTER - PART TWO

 

Following the closure of the Lincolnshire & South Humberside Times weekly newspaper in 1985, staff held summer reunions in Brigg for a number of years. And there was a further get-together one Saturday afternoon in 2010 when North Lincolnshire Council's Museum, on Oswald Road, Scunthorpe, staged an exhibition about the history of the paper.
It latterly had offices at 57 Wrawby Street, Brigg, having relocated from the Market Place in the early 1950s when the entrance to Cary Lane was widened.
On display at the museum were some of the bound copies containing a full year's editions which had been preserved for safe-keeping at Baysgarth Museum, Barton, following the paper's demise on economic grounds.
Among ex-staff to attend this exhibition 10 years ago was David Stephens, the final editor, based at 'head office' - the Hull Daily Mail. Prior to promotion, he had been the news editor at Brigg.
Some former staff also met up for a pint or three, back in Brigg, at the Black Bull, on Wrawby Street, to chat about Times past.
For years, Times employees received a very welcome Christmas bonus in the form of an extra week's salary - paid in cash rather than by cheque - and accompanied by a festive note from the management thanking them for their efforts over the previous 12 months.
As you can imagine, the cash came in very handy!
Expenses then formed an important part of reporters' wages, with meal allowances paid for working through lunch hours and at tea time/early evening - a frequent occurrence.
'Incidentals' were added to cover the post of phone calls made from kiosks (no mobile phones in those days!) and the odd pint or two bought for helpful contacts encountered on licensed premises.
Brigg-based editorial staff also received a special weekly payment for compiling the town's  market prices (potatoes, corn, cattle, etc) as these lists also appeared in the Hull Daily Mail, the Grimsby Telegraph and the Scunthorpe Telegraph.
Young reporters were sent to a college in Sheffield on lengthy residential 'block release' training courses.
Course tutors and young journalists from other papers across the North and Midlands who attended were very surprised to be told that Lincs Times reporters were still required to attend funerals and take down the names of mourners as they entered the church or chapel to pay their last respects. These would be appended to the deceased's obituary in the following Friday's edition.
Some course colleagues from much larger newspapers thought this old-fashioned practice had died out at the time when Queen Victoria received her lavish send-off!
Although retired from his role as news editor, veteran journalist Edward (Ted) Dodd, of St Helens Road, Brigg, often helped out at funerals in the early 1980s, as his wide knowledge of local 'faces' was invaluable. Indeed, some funeral directors made personal requests for Ted to attend.
He expected to see young journalists reporting for funeral mourner duty wearing proper attire - shirt, tie and black jacket or top coat (depending on the time of year).
However, there was no chance of claiming the cost of a new Crombie from Wallhead's or Shaw's on expenses!
PICTURED ABOVE: Former Lincolnshire Times staff members Mike Hills, Penny Smith and David Stephens (right) during the museum exhibition in 2010. David was the paper's final editor.

Councillor Penny Smith, of Brigg, in 2010 - pointing to a surviving copy of the very last issue of the Lincolnshire and South Humberside Times weekly newspaper, printed in July 1985.

 

 

Mike Hills in 2010, looking through back issues of the Lincolnshire Times from the mid-1960s.