This week I had a very enjoyable work experience placement at Blackball Media and learnt more about what they do and how they run day-to-day. Blackball Media publish CarDealer magazine and Workshop magazine as well as running superunleaded.com and supplying services for other companies such as editing, fiming and PR work. They are highly successful so to get a work experience placement there was very exciting. I had been waiting over 3 weeks for this come around and I wasn’t sure what to expect. I had spoken to James Baggott, Managing Director via email but due to his busy schedule the exchanges were brief so it was hard to get an idea of his character. This added to my nervousness which is not ideal on the long drive from Brighton, where I was staying with family.
My first journey to the Blackball offices in Gosport took about 1 hour 45 minutes but despite that it wasn’t too bad. I did hit a rather sizeable pothole – which has now been filled in thankfully - on the A27 at Crockhurst Hill which caused half my teeth to fall out, but other than that it was smooth enough.
I arrived at Haslar Marine Technology Park and signed in to do the necessary security/health and safety checks before knocking on the main office door where I was was greeted by Sophie Williamson-Stohert was works as a staff writer. I was then shoehorned into the vacant desk of writer Jack Evans. I settled into the tall office chair and looked around at my surroundings. There was some cool ornaments in the office and many magazines lying about, I felt like a kid in a candy shop.
The rest of the staff rolled in shortly after me and I offered to get the morning papers when I heard Dave Brown, production editor and Laura Thomson, features editor discuss that they had not been picked up. I got to local corner shop with no incident although having initially been given the wrong directions by Dave. I came back with the papers and was given the task of going through them to find stories which we could write about. I wrote three articles, one of which was used on motors.co.uk which was about Honda investing £200 million into their Swindon plant. I was extremely pleased that they had used my work so quickly as to be honest I was expecting the week to consist of making tea and filling envelopes.
Day 2 and I got into the office early-ish once more and picked up my papers on my way in. I wrote one or two more articles for Laura before Dave asked me to write some top 10s which I did on Ferraris and then one on British Sports cars. This was good fun and I also did a top 5 on hot hatches. That night I chose to drive back home to London so I could see my wife, Patsy. It felt like a long drive but it was worth it to see the happiness on her face when I arrived unannounced.
Day 3 saw me finish the British sports cars and I moved onto supercars before Laura asked me to write a story for her before Jack Healy, editorial assistant asked me to write a piece on the new Renault Scenic which would be used in the magazine as part of the Geneva Motor Show feature. James’ mum had popped in to help out and even made the MD a cup of tea, which I thought was a lovely touch.
I had no lunch with me on that day so Dave directed me to the canteen with instructions that included the term '30 degree turn'. I joked and said that I didn’t a protractor with me but I found it alright and found that the prices were a bit odd. Well, more like even as the chips were 56p and a bottle of Oasis was £1.28, quite unusual amounts. I didn’t mind though as the chips were delicious. I made my way back to office and declared to Dave that I thought the turn was more like 28 degrees which brought a chuckle and a wry smile from him.
On the fourth day I was turfed out of my temporary home as Jack Evans returned to the office so I cut out the news clippings on the pool table before another spot was found for me. This day was a bit slower as the office was full steam ahead to get the magazine ready to print as it was deadline week.
Dave asked me to proofread three pages for the magazine and with my keen eye I was able to spot that BMW had actually been spelt BWM and there was also a full stop missing in another part of the page. I’ve always been a bit of stickler when it comes to grammar so I think I would make a good proof-reader although I’ve never been much good at proofreading my own work!
I wrote a piece for Laura in the early afternoon as well as writing an article for Jack (Evans). The rest of the day I was a bit of a spare part but it was just nice to be in an environment where I was surrounded by like-minded people who loved cars as much as I do. I also had a chat with Dave about the Geneva Motor Show and spoke briefly about the Bugatti Chiron.
The fifth and final day saw me mostly writing articles for Jack (Evans) amongst doing a bit more proofreading for Dave. Although today was the last day of deadline week for Blackball to get their latest issue of CarDealer magazine the office was calm and quiet most of the time. The only real noise in the morning came from two loud sneezes from the chief and Jack saying “Breakfast cookies” when picking up one of the cookies from yesterday.
The morning went quite quickly with Jack giving me plenty to keep me entertained. I wrote five articles throughout the day, two of which got published, one about options for buying an Audi A6 and another about a motorist who had a bit of trouble parking her car. They were published on Motors.co.uk and AOL Cars respectively in quick succession. I was a tad disappointed that AOL had not kept the original headline of ‘This Manoeuvre Is Like Pulling Teeth’ as I thought that was quite fitting given the theme of the article. But hey, I’m nit-picking, it’s just nice for my work to be recognised.
As the day came towards its conclusion I was trying to keep myself busy to take my mind off the inevitability that my time at Blackball Media was quickly coming to an end. I had a pleasant surprise though as when I looks at the board of magazine pages to be included in the next issue and saw that my work on the Renault Scenic will be included as part of the Geneva Motor Show feature. To be featured on partnered websites is one thing but to be in the actual magazine? I was very happy and I really look forward to seeing the finished the issue.
The time hit 5pm and I asked Dave and Jack if there was anything I could help but I was told that would be all. So I made my way to James’ office to thank him for his and the company’s time which almost didn’t come out as must admit I had a lump in my throat. This week had been a great experience and I felt at home very quickly and everyone was very welcoming. I took a few pictures for memories and took one of the Blackball stress balls (with the permission of Dave) and hit the road back to South London.
To the team at Blackball Media, thank you very much and I hope our paths cross again in the future. Good luck in your future endeavours.
