A day at the adver

The 11-year-old, who won a competition to write a report for the paper for Local Newspaper Week and watch it come off the presses, now dreams of a future career as a sports reporter.

And his story about a sponsored penalty shoot-out, which he wrote while ill with a stomach bug, showed he already has natural flair.

"It was really exciting to see my story and name in the paper," said the Southfield Junior School pupil.

"I felt really proud. This has given me a taste of what it would be like to be a reporter."

Our vintage bus picked up Philip and his dad John, 47, from their home in Priory Green, Highworth, yesterday and brought them to our offices in Victoria Road.

After arriving in style, the youngster typed up his story and then sat in on the editor's morning conference to hear which page his story would be appearing on.

"It was interesting knowing what was going in the paper before I see it," said Philip.

Then, after seeing his story being placed on the page, he was whisked off to Oxford to see it being printed.

Philip hit the button to start the presses rolling and was handed one of the first copies of yesterday's late edition in which his story featured on page 13.

"It was amazing," he said. "The machines were massive and it was exciting to see the metal plates."

The avid Adver reader said one of the highlights of the day was talking to our sports reporters, particularly Jon Ritson.

"I always read the sport in the paper and it was good to put a face to a name," he said.

"I would like to be a sports reporter when I'm older."

Philip's dad John said he encouraged his son to enter the competition after seeing it in the paper.

"He did the story all on his own," he said. "We have taken the Adver for years so for me it was amazing to see the sheer number of different skills involved in the print and distribution of the paper. I was also amazed by the technology involved, particularly the press in Oxford. We're even more fond of the Adver now and I would just like to say a big thank-you for the day."

Soccer day helps the tsunami appeal

Here is Philip's winning report first published in yesterday's late edition:

On Friday April 15 at the Recreation Ground in Highworth, Highworth Kids Club organised a sponsored penalty shoot-out to raise money for the tsunami appeal and a new Playstation 2 for the club.

There were about 24 boys and girls there, between the ages of 4 and 11.

The children go to Eastrop Infant School and Southfield Junior School and the club provides before and after-school care.

We changed into our football kits in the Highworth Junior football club pavilion while waiting for the Warneford School pupils who very kindly came along to be in goal for the penalty shoot-out.

There were four groups and each child had five shots at the goalie.

As we were only sponsored for taking part it didn't matter how many goals we scored.

The younger children did a sponsored bounce on a trampet they bounced 100 times.

After all that exercise we had drinks, hot dogs and burgers.

We had a great time and raised £150.

Some of this money will go towards the Playstation 2.

The rest of the money will go to help those affected by the tsunami disaster.

PHILIP REES

Here are the entries from our two runners-up

Making the news

Trapped in a cave

My name is Steven and last year I went to Wookey Hole and something extraordinary happened.

I was going with my mum, dad and my brother Ben.

It all started when we were out exploring. Mum didn't like the idea but we finally managed to persuade her. We wanted to look inside one of the biggest caves. So we did. We looked around. But we forgot something... A little later on a person with a microphone walked past the cave.

He saw the cave was open so he pulled the boulder across and walked away. We shouted and screamed. Then he paused. He heard us calling from inside the cave. With all his might he pulled the boulder open again. We were free!

He started asking us lots of questions which were quite hard to answer.

The next day the local news was on telly and this is what the reporter said: "Yesterday afternoon two children and two adults were trapped in a cave. Luckily I passed by and freed them." Then we were interviewed by the local paper and were on front page of every newspaper.

STEVEN CROYDON

Tackling car crime

One way road for car criminals

TACKLING car crime should be the top priority for the Government, say people in Swindon.

They have delivered a clear message to politicians of all parties in the run-up to the general election. The message reads: "To get our vote, tackle car crime."

Car criminals don't consider how upset people get if their vehicle is broken into. The act of breaking into a car can take 30 seconds but it can still cause a lot of inconvenience to the vehicle owner.

An Adver reader who was a victim of car crime said: "I use my car for work because I am a community nurse so I had great difficulty doing my work. My personal belongings were stolen and my cards were fraudulently used, so I spent many hours with the police and sorting out my bank cards. It was many months before everything was back in order, due to a 40-second act by an individual, who had nothing to lose, despite the police knowing who he was, was never brought to justice."

Car criminals actions result in higher insurance costs. Car makers could build storage compart-ments under the seat that you could lock. We wait to see what the action the Government take.

AMY HALL

Ben Payne