Editor’s Diary: A Chance To Catch Up

After all the media attention of the last two weeks, it was nice to open my diary on a Monday morning and see some blank spaces – a much-needed chance to catch up with work!

The week started with a meeting with our HR department to discuss recruiting a new member of the team to run our website following the departure of Karlie at the end of last year. I’m really excited about welcoming a new person into the “Friend” family!

Researching Magazines

Then, on Tuesday, I had a meeting I was very much looking forward to, with Charlotte Lauder.

Charlotte is a PhD student with the University of Strathclyde and the National Library of Scotland, who is researching popular Scottish magazines of the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. She had arranged with DC Thomson archives manager David Powell to spend the day in our archives department, and I was delighted she had time in her busy schedule to meet me, as I was looking forward to hearing her views on the “Friend”.

Charlotte’s background is in history, so she was approaching the heritage of the “Friend” from a different viewpoint from my own, and it was fascinating to learn about some of the little gems of information she has already uncovered. Charlotte will be studying the early history of the “Friend” as part of her research, and I’m sure we’ll be hearing a lot more from her as the year goes on.

You can read more from Charlotte in the article the BBC published on its website back in January: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-46797116.

Burns Night

I ended the week with another celebration, this time for Burns Night on January 25, with a supper of haggis (the vegetarian variety, of course), neeps and tatties and a glass of finest malt whisky. And another party beckoned the next day, with a retiral do for a friend in Perth. I was glad to put my feet up in front of the telly on Sunday!