Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

My placement at the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ officially started last week but was all office based until Friday when I first got to go out and experience life as a reporter.

Maryport Blues Festival

I was slightly nervous when I first arrived at the festival. Armed with a camera and dictaphone that I had never used before I had visions of me either breaking them or just being completely rubbish and getting no usable material.

On arrival I was greeted by one of the directors of Maryport Blues Ltd, Eleanor Carr, who instantly made me feel welcome and asked me what my agenda was for the day. This is when I suddenly realised I am a real reporter!

The first person I interviewed was Dave Park, the director of Maryport Festivals Ltd. I felt that this interview went really well for my first attempt and was surprised when I stopped recording to see that we had been talking non-stop for five and a half minutes.

I interviewed about six more people throughout the day and found my confidence grew more and more each time.

The festival was really good. I wouldn't say that I am a really big blues fan but I really enjoyed all four bands that were playing on the main stage.

The biggest problem I encountered on the day was taking photographs. I'm not the tallest person and so had to manoeuvre my way to the front of the stage but even then I was having difficulty getting my pictures in focus. As I'm no technical wizard my plan was just to keep taking shots and to hope for the best. 264 photos later I had about 15 usable shots! Ah well practice makes perfect.

This year was my first time visiting the Blues Festival, however because I had such a good time I will definitely be booking tickets for their 10th anniversary next year.

What next?

As I enjoyed reporting at the festival so much I have planned to visit three different events this week.

Today is National Playday in Carlisle. This involves street entertainment, face painting, musical and dance activities, orienteering, arts and crafts, sports activities and a skate jam! Sounds fun so I'm off to check it out.

On Friday I plan to visit a summer school that's taking place over in Cockermouth. It will be running for six weeks over the summer and is the best way to keep kids entertained. I aim to get involved with fun circus skills such as stilt walking and unicycle riding.

Sunday will see me visiting Kendal's Brewery Arts Centre for a free afternoon of music and culture.

Well it looks like I'll be rather busy over the next few days so I best get started on my risk assessments. Ooh the unicycle might be quite dangerous.