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Weather presenter thanks regional daily for helping her land ‘dream’ job

An alumnus of a regional daily’s young reporter scheme has voiced her gratitude to the paper after landing her “dream job” as a weather presenter.

Abbie Dewhurst thanked the Grimsby Telegraph for giving her the experience needed to take up the job with BBC Look North.

Then aged 17, Abbie was among the first to be taken on to an annual three-month programme run by the Telegraph which gives young people in the Grimsby area the chance to write for a weekly column in the newspaper.

Five years on, she began her presenting job for Look North, in Leeds, a few weeks ago.

Abbie Dewhurst

Recalling her time on the scheme, Abbie, pictured above, told the Telegraph: “That will always be the first experience that I put down on my CV and showed that I went out there to get experience at a young age.

“Without it, I don’t know where I would be. It gave me a great platform and a voice in the community.

“It made me realise that I love journalism and enabled me to develop my own style.”

After the scheme finished, she went on to do freelance work for BBC Lincolnshire, East Coast Pictures and for a community radio station in Lincolnshire.

Abbie added: “I had to work for free a lot of the time to get the experience that I needed but it has all been worth it because now I get paid to do what I love.

“You have just got to keep going because it is so important to do what you enjoy. The only person that will stop you from doing that is yourself.

“It’s not easy at all. You have to be stubborn and keep knocking at the door and eventually one will open. Perseverance is key, because I had days where I thought that I can’t do it any more.”

More than 200 columns have been printed in the Grimsby Telegraph by young reporters aged 13 to 19 since the programme was launched in 2011.

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  • July 14, 2016 at 3:39 pm
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    Good for you Abbie – it’s always pleasing to see someone being respectful to those who have helped them.
    And it seems to me all this article will do is to encourage others taking their faltering first steps that they might just be on the road to success too.

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