100 CLUBS IN 100 DAYS
NEW SERIES STARTS TODAY
WHEN I walked through the doors at the Townsville Bulletin, still a little frazzled after a two-day drive from Brisbane, still acclimatising to the North Queensland heat, the editor made a beeline for me.
Here’s my big chance, I thought. What’ll it be – a drug bust, a big court case, a council scandal.
“Hi Liz, welcome aboard,” she said. “So for the next 100 days we want you to join and write about 100 clubs.”
I looked for a flicker of a smile, a hint of a joke.
She was dead serious.
My mind kicked into overdrive. I didn’t know my way to my hotel let alone around town.
I’ve joined the Bulletin having just graduated from the University of Queensland. It’s my first journo job after dreaming of being a journalist since I was eight years old.
So as I was eager to please, I jumped into action.
I met Scott from Sword and Shield Boxing who gave me some great advice about the applying the survival skills you learn in the boxing ring in your everyday life.
I nearly cried when Bernadette from the Ukulele Club told me that they played at nursing homes and a woman who had dementia and had not spoken in 18 months sang every single word to Amazing Grace.
And thank you to the women at the Tri Club who said they would adopt me as their daughter after learning I had only moved to Townsville two weeks earlier.
What I’ve quickly realised in getting to join 100 clubs in 100 days is that the most important part of working at a regional newspaper is knowing your community.
Being a brand new journalist in a brand new town, my quest to meet the faces and voices of my new home has began.
There have been lots of laughs and surprises and I have made new friends and memories.
So here I am, frantically joining 100 clubs in 100 days so if you’re keen to have me along to your club email me at elisabeth.silvester1@news.com.au.