TV agony aunt takes a hand-on approach in battle to combat hospital super bugs

TV agony aunt Claire Rayner has joined the battle against super bugs by visiting the children's ward at Northwick Park Hospital.

Mrs Rayner joined nurses dressed in giant cat and dog suits to teach young patients the importance of washing their hands with a special hand wash to kill germs.

Mrs Rayner, a former nurse, attended the hospital in Watford Road at the beginning of the month as part of a three-year campaign to combat MRSA and other potentially lethal infections.

Mrs Rayner said: "Infections are a very real and current problem in hospitals. The weak, young and elderly are most at risk with the worst outcome being death."

She went on to say: "By encouraging patients to ask doctors and nurses to wash their hands, and staff to inform patients of the same, these unnecessary infections can be avoided."

The Harrow resident aims to raise awareness of the issue nationally.

Schools and old people's homes are her next priorities.

This story was something I found while trawling the local hospitals for press releases. They provided me with Claire Rayner’s telephone number so that I could conduct a telephone interview. Claire, a busy woman, was hard to get details out of initially but once I had her in the flow of conversation she forgot about the other issues she had to attend to and we had quite a long and detailed interview.

This piece was about the time of the MRSA scare so it was well suited to the local paper. Also the fact that she is famous further influenced my decision to choose the piece as one that would appeal to the local reader. Also the child angle was good since a large number of this suburban local paper readers would be families.

I tried to keep it concise and to the point while also being light-hearted where possible as it was a story about positive effort to make a change. The level of seriousness was maintained as the issue which washing hands aims to avoid, is a very sobering one.

The fact that this event was happening at Northwick Park Hospital which had just be in the news, with regards to testing gone wrong, made it more eye caching to the reader.

The length of the story was governed simply by the depth of the story. Since it held a certain value to the reader, but would turn into a health lecture if delved into further, the length of the story was kept short and punchy.

Interview with award winning 'Tracy Beaker' script writer Elly Brewer, printed in local paper about her new book.

BEING plucked from a peaceful nap on the bus to discover you have
been transported to a different world is a scary prospect, so imagine the horror of schoolboy, Jerry Patterson when just that happened to him.

Jerry's fear of finding himself in an alien world is matched only by his
shock of realising he has become the pet of his new alien family, the
Jannans.

Jerry is the main character in Elly Brewer's new novel, Jerry and the
Jannans. Elly, 50, who was born and now lives in Kenton, is best known for her work as lead writer on BBC1's Tracey Beaker.

Her jump from script to novel writing has resulted in the creation of a whole world of intricate alien detail. If you look close enough you may be able to spot a few choice local mentions, from Kenton road names, such as Ebrington and Illmington, which in the book are names for alien technical equipment; to Jerry thinking back to his Grandad playing bowls at home, the description of which is based on Elly's own memories of her father playing bowls at Woodcock Park in Kenton.

Jerry's home, where his mother waits anxiously for his return, is in Dovedale Avenue, where one of Elly's friends used to live. Elly took inspiration from everyday life when she wrote the book. Many waiting room visits at the orthodontist with her daughter led to the idea for a brace that works as a radio. A Tesco employee character was based on a friendly lady Elly was served by at the fish counter on one of her many trips during writing.

When asked about a sequel to Jerry and the Jannans, Elly, who has one daughter, Amy, 18, says: "I'm open to it but it's not planned. I'm currently two chapters in on another alien based story."

The original Jerry and the Jannans was 96,000 words long and she was told to cut it down by a third.

"Cutting it down," Elly says,"was a good process for me, allowing me to up the pace, while cutting down the overly detailed description."

When asked what advice she would give budding writers, Elly says: "Keep practicing to improve and be more concise."

She adds: "Find the names of who works where you want your work to go, then send it in. Don't be disheartened if it isn't wanted first time."

To join Jerry and the Jannans in this off-world adventure, pick up a copy for £5.99 at your local bookshop.

While working for the Harrow Observer I was given the opportunity to contact Elly Brewer. Having a little sister I had heard of Elly’s TV show Tracey Beaker and jumped at the opportunity to interview her. On telephoning her I found her very forthcoming, too much so in fact. This interview tested my ability to politely move the conversation on to issues I needed to cover in the story without offending her sensibilities.

Being a children’s novel I chose a very jolly and simple writing style so that it could appeal to adults and children alike. I tried to put emphasis on the book with links to Tracey Beaker as many younger readers would jump at the chance to read anything associated with such a hit children’s show.

This was a lengthy article as there was a lot of local information that related to the book. This is gold dust in the eyes of the editor who is effectively a local area pimp trying to link in as much as possible about Harrow, confirming it as the reason for great things growing from the area.

The introduction was of quite an off-world, story-like nature so as to interest children. It does not go into facts of the local area until a few paragraphs in so as to maintain that youth interest for as long as possible.

Research invested before the interview proved useful for linking her previous endeavours to stories related to this release. Especially in moments of silence having her information was useful in moving things forward. Also in writing up the story my background research helped place everything into an understandable context.