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Birthday accolades as training body reaches milestone

Spin doctor Alastair Campbell and Blue Peter presenter Helen Skelton are among those who have sent birthday congratulations to the UK’s premier journalism training body.

The National Council for the Training of Journalists , first established in 1951, is celebrating its 60th anniversary next month.

It is marking the occasion with a party at Devonshire Terrace in London which will be attended by a host of figures from the world of journalism.

Those who have sent birthday greetings include present and former stars of the industry who were helped onto the first rung of the career ladder by the training body.

Former Tavistock Times reporter Alastair said:  “Many congratulations to the NCTJ on reaching its 60th birthday, and many thanks for the start you gave me 30-plus years ago.

“The basic training in law, shorthand and reporting was first rate and I know many of today’s journalists owe the NCTJ a huge amount.”

Helen, who started out on local radio in Cumbria, said:  “Huge congratulations on reaching such an impressive milestone. Keep up the good work and high standards.

“I remain as proud of my NCTJ qualifications now as when I received them!”

Others who sent greetings included former Mirror editor Piers Morgan, who began his career on the South London News after studying journalism at Harlow College .

“It taught me all the things you need to be a good journalist: typing, shorthand, the law, story-getting, the vital importance of facts, and an ability to drink ten pints of Grolsch without falling over. Congratulations on the 60th birthday,” he said.

And Society of Editors executive director Bob Satchwell said:  “For more than half a century the NCTJ served newspapers and their journalists brilliantly.

“Over the past decade, responding to widespread recognition that journalists benefit from NCTJ approved training, it has broadened its role to set out the core requirements for anyone aiming to work across any or all platforms in the news media – in print, broadcasting and online.”

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  • June 23, 2011 at 10:32 am
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    Congratulations, guys! My memories of training at Harlow are … a journalism lecturer who spent lesson time writing stuff for the News of the World, a PA lecturer who could put the entire class to sleep in 5 minutes and didn’t care … a law lecturer who guaranteed he would Pass everyone, no matter what they wrote, and then failed almost the entire class. I hated every minute of college, but couldn’t have done without it. My Proficiency Certificate still adorns my wall, along with the one I got from school for riding a bike.

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  • June 23, 2011 at 2:14 pm
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    Sometimes Cleland when you can’t say anything nice, it’s worth saying nothing at all.

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  • June 24, 2011 at 10:34 am
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    whoops, sorry, didn;t realise you’d had a humour bypass.

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