Jason Donovan, the Ventura and blogging - all in a days work...

Today has been a really busy one for the ITV Local team. Sharon and Heather were busy holding the website fort as Casey and I were out of office in London for the day. They had some exciting extras such as an extended interview with Jason Donovan. The Echo Beach star is going to be busy this weekend running the OX5Run in aid of the Oxford Children’s Hospital this weekend. We wish him the best of luck!

We also have a special report from travel correspondent Mike Pearce. Mike has been getting ship-shape having a special tour around cruise ship the Ventura. Its Britain’s largest ever cruise ship and it’s due to sail to Southampton any day now.

Meanwhile Casey and I were busy learning how to be expert bloggers! We had a really exciting meeting with 1000 heads who have been monitoring internet social networking since 2000. Hopefully this means a new and exciting future for the ITV Local blogs and with a redesign in the pipeline we hope you will all ‘tune in’ to see how we are getting on. We will now be bringing you all the latest gossip and information direct from the newsroom so stay tuned the ITV Local Meridian & Thames Valley blog!

Were you a fool this April?

Traditionally April Fool’s day is when journalists across the country rack their brains for bizarre stories about mutant animals and spaghetti harvests just so they can con the public for a day. And this year was no exception – we had flying penguins on the BBC in a spoof 'Miracles of Evolution' documentary, French president Nicolas Sarkozy decided to undergo stretch treatment to add inches to his height in The Sun and Gordon Ramsey banned restaurant swearing in The Independent.

The Meridian and Thames Valley news teams were no exception and entered into the sprit in style.

Weather man Simon Parkin went out to Oxfordshire to try and spot the mass April Fool in Henley-on-Thames. Villagers clubbed together in a two week long prank set as a competition by councillors. Ever seen a slimming sausage filled only with air? Well, they’re on special offer now in Oxfordshire!

Artist Jonathan Truss uploaded these scary photos of a leopard at large in his Bournemouth garden. But if you’re panicking about the beast reaching your garden then fear not as he won’t be getting very far – he’s stuffed.


The air show in Eastbourne is set for a different look this year with some special flying formations. However, instead of the Red Arrows, or the Tigers Parachute team, they've got a more unusual team lined up. Pigeons from across Sussex have started training for Eastbourne Airborne and we set reporter Charles Lambert to see how they are getting on…

If you have some great April Fool pranks you’d like to share you can email us here.

ITV Local teams up with Kent Community Foundation

Getting new content for ITV Local is always exciting especially when it means you have a new media partnership in place.

We have been in talks with Kent Community Foundation for a few weeks and have now set up a special ITV Local channel dedicated to their work in the local community.

Based in Ashford, Kent Community Foundation is a charitable foundation set up to encourage philanthropy for the benefit of the people of Kent. Their concept is simple; they provide the means for individuals and organisations to establish their own charitable ‘funds’ which benefit local people.

I have been filming with some of these organisations in order to launch the channel and have met many fantastic people over the last few weeks.

Here are some examples of projects that Kent Community Foundation has funded in the past. Click the title to watch the video.


Invicta Valiants, Ashford
Ward and Partners helped fund the Invicta Valiants football team for disabled children. The FA and Kent FA have now formed a county junior disability league and cup that included the Invicta Valiants team.



Unit 1 Skate Park, Rochester
Sport Relief sponsored Unit 1 to help re-open the park. The money is also being used to create new spaces within it for the young to meet in a positive and social environment. Meet the team of volunteers and skaters here.


Dover Youth Theatre
The Local Network Fund gave money to Dover’s first youth theatre to help fund theatrical performances. The Dover Youth Theatre advances the education of young people in the art of drama, theatre, films, music song and dance.


For more about Kent Community Foundation visit their dedicated channel.

Also – if you have been helped by the foundation or just want to share your story visit YourNews to upload to ITV Local.

The road to the Beijing Olympics

With only five months until the 2008 Olympics the South’s top athletes are training hard for medals in Beijing.

You can catch up with the best in our dedicated Olympic channel as our sports gurus travel the region to meet local athletes.

Here are some highlights:

Sailing’s Ben Ainslie, winner of two Olympic gold medals and five world championship titles, sets sail for Beijing.

Aldershot plays host to the GB Synchronised Swimming team as they plan for their first Olympic games.

Steve Scott from Battle is ranked 7th in the world in his Olympic sport double trap. Its clay pigeon shooting on a much larger scale - each clay is travelling at 90 miles an hour.

You can meet more British athletes in the Road to the Beijing Olympics.

Plus want to upload your own sporting skills? GrassRoots Sport is for you…

Lights Out on Brighton Pier

Meridian's live camera had a spectacular view today. First we witnessed the buffeting waves crashing against Brighton pier in the wildest storm so far this winter.

Then at about 6pm, the lights went out on the pier altogether in what looked like a power cut!

See what the view's doing right now at http://www.itvlocal.com/meridian/live/

ITV Local hits the road!

We'd like to welcome the ITV Local locomotives to all the regional teams as of today! These beauties (albeit beasts) will now help us get from place to place whilst promoting our fantastic sites on the side of the cars.

Top Gear have described the cars as having "striking looks from the outside, simple within. Sort of like a weather girl. We like the bravery of the design, but aren't quite brave enough to go out and buy a Roomster".

Interesting.... well at least the weather part fits in quite well...

Royal Television Society Awards Success!

Meridian and Thames Valley scooped six awards last night at the RTS Awards in Southampton.

They were as follows:

Best Regional TV Journalist - Simon Clemison

Best Feature/Strand Production - Ian Maclaren for his work on the slavery strand for South East

Most Promising Newcomer - Keith Peries from Thames Valley

Best Graphics - Amanda Hall

Best Programme/Series about the region - FOCUS, The Good Food Chain.

Best Regional News Magazine Show - Thames Valley Tonight

Simon Clemison, Best Regional TV Journalist

"It was an absolutely fantastic occasion. My heart was thumping when they read out the nominations. I don’t think I have ever been quite so nervous! It was great to go up on stage with Fred, although he did revel in telling everyone the prank he played on me at my house recently. I work with a brilliant team at ITV Meridian and ITV Thames Valley. They make work so enjoyable, an atmosphere where you really can thrive. I would like to thank the Royal Television Society for a great night".



Robin Britton, Head of ITV Thames Valley

During the emergency in July the whole show came live from flood hit Oxford and Berkshire for 5 nights in a row. The RTS judges praised the programme for its ambition, relevance to viewers and it “never put a foot wrong”.

Such a high standard was achieved because everyone pulled out all the stops to make it happen – our colleagues at Meridian South and Meridian East leant us their satellite trucks so we could come from the worst hit locations. We’re absolutely delighted to receive this award in our first year of transmission – it’s a great achievement by all concerned.

And not for getting the Runners-Up of course which included your very own ITV Local Thames Valley for Best Technical Innovation, Sally Mules, Dave Russell, Zoe Gower-Jones , Alistair Batey, Neil Cornish, the Meridian Reports Team, and the Meridian South programme team.

It was a truly fantastic night celebrating the best of regional news and superbly hosted by our very own Fred Dinenage.