The face of Meridian South Today, Debbie Thrower reflects on the need for persistence, stamina and patience.

The face of Meridian South Today, Debbie Thrower says persistence, stamina and patience are all required to be a good reporter.

Debbie, 50 is a well qualified journalist, ‘although it may look like an easy job, knocking on people doors and asking questions, you still have to be persistent, patient and determined – there is a lot of hanging around sometimes.’

Debbie highlights some of the more important skills in the job, ‘you have to be a people person – curious, inquisitive. You mustn’t ever take things at face value. The best journalists are those who are curious about the world, how it works and what makes people tick – if that doesn’t sound like you, then journalism probably isn’t the best career.'

For Debbie it is the small attention to detail that outlines a truly successful broadcast reporter, ‘local news is a very different style from national news but small things like looking up from your monitor back to the camera are very important. Do it too quickly and you come across fidgety, too slowly and you look pompous.’

It takes time and patience to learn, ‘it is very important to learn from others in the industry that are good at what they do. You want to have your own style, but you must take some technique from successful journalists. Look at the Dimbleby’s and Jon Snow. We don’t all ad-lib to fill 15 seconds and sound perfectly natural at it.’

Debbie started her career in newspapers, working for a free weekly newspaper - the Wimbledon Guardian. From there she moved through several publications to working on BBC Radio 2, where she eventually started work with Meridian South Today, co presenting with Fred Dinenage.

Debbie now lives in Southampton with her husband Peter and her two children Bryony, 10 and Samuel, 7.

Earliest Memory of Mrs Sheppard

Mary Sheppard, 82 talks about her earliest memories of playing in the street as a child.

Born in November 1926 ‘the best thing about growing up in the 20’s and 30’s was the simple fun we always had, explains Mrs Sheppard over a cup of tea. ‘We would play chase, play with hoops and help my father fix cars whenever he had a new one to repair.’

The games were numerous and varied, often keeping all the children out well after dark. ‘Sometimes we would run and hide and give our parents a scare as a big joke!’

It was an era in Britain where you could leave your front door unlocked and not worry about being burgled. When asked about this, Mrs Sheppard was defensive, ‘we always had to have our door locked as my father was so paranoid of people stealing his tools and materials.’

Mrs Sheppard’s father John was a mechanic who served as an engineer in World War One. ‘We had a garage attached to the house and there was always a broken car outside.’

She began her career as a secretary in a car showroom. ‘My father encouraged me into the job, saying I should be grateful. My heart was never really in it though.’ A few years later she became a vet. She said, ‘I always loved animals but never wanted to treat them until I was much older.’

Now a grandparent to four and a parent to three, Mrs Sheppard prefers quiet weekends with her husband, also called John, where they care for their four cats Molly, Mog, Meg and Baby.