Welcome to my own personal blog, showcasing my work and my writing.
The main goal is to provide a platform for my journalism and as someone within ‘the media’, I know how important it is that individual journalists do have a platform to showcase our work. There is inspiration to give myself a platform for my writing on a broad range of personal interests, my journalism and anything else I can think of!
Giving the blog a title, Call Me Will, reflects one thing alone – this is my name. My surname Luker does mean that I am often called Luke by mistake something I find amusing but I suppose is the pitfall of having a name within a surname. I have spent the past 28 years correcting so many people which after a while you do become accustomed to being called a name which you are not. Believe me, I’ve had many members of the public call me and work colleagues names not worth repeating, the abuse I just bat away. So being called Luke by mistake is by no means the biggest end of the world scenario!
Some background information on me includes experience in Gloucestershire media for over four years, primarily working as a Community Reporter at the Gloucester Citizen and Gloucestershire Echo for three and a half years. Now I’m working on my own independent platform called The Shire News, my own business dedicated to local news and features for the county I love and know so well. The work I do for The Shire News involves subscribers paying a subscription fee to get the best pieces into their email inbox. Writing the website and delivered as a newsletter, you can find out more about The Shire News here.
The most valuable skills and experience I offer is writing and organising journalism. A good news story or feature needs organisation and structure, so I do have knowledge on what makes good journalism suitable for my audiences. Other skills include shooting video, recording audio for radio projects, interviewing, photography and research into chosen topics which I prioritise to write about. The video skills are apparent through The Shire News having its own YouTube channel.
It is also worth sharing my hobbies and interests which are broad. I hope to make use of these interests as good topics to write about. Some listed topics and activities (in no particular order) I take an interest in during my spare time include:
- Walking
- Cycling (Including road cycling as a professional sport)
- History
- UK Geography
- Books
- Football
- Rugby Union
- Belgian Beer and Ales from Britain
- Journalism and News
- Politics
It must be made clear that journalism, news and politics is not something I dwell upon 24/7. Taking a detox away from the news and the political world is vital, plus I must also make it clear that I do not follow football religiously, it is just a sport I take an interest in.
Thank you for reading the about page and I do hope you enjoy what I write.
