A former local and national newspaper reporter who covered the Troubles in Northern Ireland has received a lifetime achievement award.

The National Union of Journalists presented John Ley with his prize at its Annual Delegate Meeting in Southport on Friday.

John has been lifelong NUJ activist and is still heavily involved in the Belfast branch as well as launching the new NUJ 60-plus for pensioners which started life on Thursday.

At a summer reunion event in Blackpool, John met up with his old flatmate from his days living in Manchester, Sir Michael Parkinson, whom he hadn’t seen for 50 years.

John’s lengthy love affair with journalism started aged 15 when, after leaving school, he became one of the youngest reporters the Southport Visiter has ever employed.

He was called up to work for the RAF at the age of 18 but returned to Lancashire two years later and took posts with the Visiter, Liverpool Daily Post and Echo and Daily Mail.

His next employer, the Daily Express, offered him a job in Northern Ireland in the mid-1960s where he continued reporting for 19 years before returning to its Manchester office as news editor.

Referring to the time, John told the Visiter: “My news editor of the day tried to talk me out of applying for the vacancy and he said to me ‘Nothing ever happens in Northern Ireland – why do you want to go there?’

“But three years later the balloon went up and the Troubles began and civil unrest started.

“And then in 1969 and 1970 the IRA launched their campaign of violence.”

Comments

Jane Hobson (23/11/2009 11:00:48)
http://www.nujadm.org.uk/?s=%22John+Ley%22
A group of 25 student journalists and photojournalists covered the NUJ ADM live – follow the link to see the piece on John Ley receiving his Member of Honour award. Our content is being used for the December edition of ‘The Journalist’.