ICNN member Ben Black published his 1,000th story. Here he talks about juggling his day job around the site, how he still gets a thrill spotting a story that shines a light on Cwmbran, and how he used to get nervous every time he hit publish.
I clicked publish on the first post on Cwmbran Life in August 2011. A few minutes ago I clicked publish on the 1,000th post. One thousand. One thousand individual stories, photos and videos that I have felt are interesting enough to spend time creating for this site.
If only I had earned a £1 for every story……it still wouldn’t cover what I’ve spent on the site out of my own pocket (but don’t mention that to my wife).
The number of posts on the Cwmbran Life Facebook page is already in the 1000s. In 2011 I felt nervous each time I posted a story for the website or Facebook page. Now I write, edit and publish as quickly as possible without worrying about each post being perfect.
Cwmbran Life is a juggle around my day job and family. People send invites to daytime events so I occasionally take leave from work which means less time spent on leave with my family. When it’s something on the evening or weekend I have to plan my time around the family. That usually means my other half and daughter waiting around for me as I’m late getting back home to them.
But if you love doing something it makes it all a bit easier. And that’s it. After seven years I still get a thrill spotting something that shows Cwmbran is a great place to live, work or visit. A quick scroll through recent posts has shown some of the lovely people who have featured on Cwmbran Life. It’s been great fun and a pleasure to spend time with so many interesting residents.
In the last month:
- I met a 17-year-old boy who wants to become a professional snooker player.
- A 20-year-old artist told me how she was inspired to set up a business drawing animals after encouragement from her A-level teachers.
- A family won a holiday to Florida thanks to a funny video they shared with ITV’s Saturday Night Takeaway show.
- Some runners from the Easy Pacers group told me how the club was making a difference to their lives through fitness and socialising.
- Officers from Gwent Police explained their plans for a huge open day they are holding with colleagues in the fire and ambulance service.
- Young people from a school and Guides group are knitting 1,918 poppies after being inspired by the words of a former pupil who passed away from cancer.
Each one gave me a buzz when the publish button was clicked. Each one shows this town in south Wales has so many people doing lovely things.
Ben Black (right) sharing stories with other community journalists at Building the Future of Community Journalism Conference 2018
Right. Let’s get back to working on post number 1,001.
