STEF LACH WRITER
SO YOU CAN WRITE, RIGHT?
A quick look at my work
News reporters need to be able to switch from writing about a village fun day to a brutal crime case in the blink of an eye. Specializing in one particular area is all well and good, but you have to adapt quickly depending on the needs of your news outlet and editors. I've written everything from light-hearted columns to exclusive exposés. I've even covered top level professional sports and interviewed people as varied as a British Prime Minister, rock stars, Olympic gold medallists and victims of particularly upsetting crimes. There's not much I wouldn't be confident writing about. Take a look at some of my journalism and PR work below.
In praise of … godparents
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I HAVE been handed a terrifying responsibility – to be godfather to my best friend's baby boy.
I will go into a lovely church in Ireland and promise to be an upstanding mentor for the child’s Christian development.
The difficulty is that I’ve been in a church six times in my life.
Once as a tourist, three times for weddings and twice for funerals.
I foresee difficulties leading my godson along the path to Christian enlightenment as I am somewhat in the dark myself.
What I can promise is to send the kid a card every year on his birthday and make more frequent trips across to Ireland to hang out with him and his dad.
I can handle that, no worries.
It appears somewhat fashionable these days to choose a wealthy godparent for your offspring.
That can’t be the case here – my stepson’s parents know I’m a humble reporter who spends all of his spare money on the annual pilgrimage back to South Africa, where the proud new father and I first forged a lifelong friendship, aged six.
I was also best man at his wedding – an easy job, as I could poke fun at him for days on end.
But this godparenting thing is different. I’m not wealthy and I’m entirely ill-equipped to look after a child.
However, as a reward for bravely accepting the role and its responsibilities, I get to drink the town dry with my pal on Sunday night in an event I believe is called “wetting the baby’s head”.
Now that’s a position I’m more than qualified for.
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Soapy Brushy
I provided the copy for the Ontario-based, independent creative car wash consultancy's website in 2020.
Mum raises test case over homes built on 'toxic site'
RESIDENTS of a housing scheme at the centre of a toxic land scare launched legal proceedings today against a social landlord.
Families living in and around the estate are suing Lanarkshire Housing Association with a view to securing remediation of the land on which their homes are built.
Collins Solicitors, which represents 43 of the families, has issued proceedings at the Scottish Court of Session in Edinburgh today on behalf of Angela McManus and her husband Robert.
Angela, 41, has lived on the site off Watling Street in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, since 2000 when her house was first built. Robert, 33, moved there in 2004. They have a three-year-old daughter, Sophie.
As previously reported in the Evening Times, Collins Solicitors has maintained for two years that the properties were built on land that was not fully remediated following a history of heavy industrial use.
Ground testing on the site, both by North Lanarkshire Council and experts appointed by Collins Solicitors, has confirmed the presence of levels of trichloroethylene (TCE), tetrachloroethylene (PCE) and other toxic solvents.
In addition, air testing at 25 of the properties in June and July 2011 confirmed that levels of toxic material in the indoor air were far higher than acceptable levels set out by the World Health Organisation.
The houses were built between 1998 and 2001, adjacent to a former landfill site. The estate is also near the former site of a factory which made instrument panels for fighter planes during the Second World War and produced harmful waste products.
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Residents claim to suffer from a number of health complaints which Collins Solicitors say are caused by exposure to neuro-toxic vapours – which also increases cancer risk.
Angela said: "I started to really notice health problems in myself in 2004. First of all it was just that I felt disorientated and absolutely exhausted. It was obvious there was something just not quite right.
"The first problems Robert had were frequent nosebleeds. It was as if his nose just burst, sometimes every day for a while, then it would just go away for a spell.
"He went on to develop asthma and chest problems."
Angela's condition got progressively worse until she moved out of the house a year ago.
She said: "I was feeling sick all the time and started spitting up blood, which went on for most of the last two years.
"The doctors at Wishaw General Hospital said they just couldn't get to the bottom of it. I stopped going back eventually.
"I knew what was causing it. It was living in this house and I had to get out. Once I did, I felt better almost instantly."
When little Sophie started showing signs of illness, Angela was terrified.
"Sophie was frequently sick and had rashes and eczema," she said.
"I realise babies develop all kinds of things, but it was just too much of a coincidence for me.
"I had to move her away and she's been fine since.
"I'm absolutely convinced that there's something under the ground that is causing these health issues. There are a lot of families from this area who have had problems and surely that can't be a coincidence.
"The council can keep calling it scaremongering, but I know what has happened to us is real. I hope the place is cleared up properly and people can live here safely. That's all I want to come from this. The truth, to be taken seriously, and for it to be safe."
Collins Solicitors decided to use Angela's experience as a test case after a site investigation in March in the garden of her Empire Way home.
The firm said the findings concluded that there are significant volumes of toxic contaminants in the soil immediately adjacent to the property which could be harmful to human health.
It is anticipated the court action will result in a single test case which will determine whether "harmful substances are, have been or will be present in vapour form in the indoor air of properties on the Watling Street Site; and that these substances, on the balance of probabilities, are, have or will adversely affect the health of residents and others."
If the case is proven, legal action will likely be taken on behalf of the other 42 families of the estate.
Des Collins, senior partner at Collins, said: "All along we have warned that if the residents were not able to secure voluntary remediation of the site, legal action would follow. The properties are unfit for human habitation – the neuro-toxic vapours are making the residents ill.
"Lanarkshire Housing Association, as landlord to a number of residents on the estate, is responsible for the provision of accommodation which meets basic standards.
"We anticipate that this test case will be sufficient to demonstrate the extent of the problem and the need for extensive remediation.
"There is a possibility other potential defenders will become involved and we have invited North Lanarkshire Council, City Link Development Company and Clyde Valley Housing Association to agree any action against them be put on hold pending the outcome of this case.
"If that agreement is not forthcoming then further proceedings against these parties will follow."
Lanarkshire Housing Association refused to comment.
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In praise of … whistleblowers
The passing of South Africa’s new Protection of Information Bill is one of the blackest days in the short history of our democracy.
State security minister Cwele (his first name Siyabonga translates directly as “we thank you”) led calls to introduce the new bill which allows any state department, from the top ministerial committees all the way down to local authorities, to class any document as secret.
Mr Cwele, we won’t be extending our thanks for this monstrosity, which includes the facility to impose penalties of up to 25 years in jail for whistleblowers.
The ruling ANC say a self-regulated press doesn’t work and point to the UK’s Leveson Inquiry as proof.
You might find it difficult to argue with that, but as the ANC has refused to incorporate a public interest defence in the new Bill, it doesn’t take a huge stretch to imagine the potential for corruption.
The Bill was first developed in 2008 by then intelligence minister Ronnie Kasrils, but the new version removes the safeguards against corruption he included in his proposals. I met Mr Kasrils in Glasgow last year and only wish more of my country’s leaders were in the same mould.
The bill was passed by a massive majority on Tuesday, branded by opponents including Mr Kasrils as Black Tuesday – in reference to the 1977 Apartheid government’s banning of two newspapers after ANC activist Steve Biko’s death in detention.
So here’s a plea, Mr Cwele, to think again and consider whether Mr Biko would have backed this Bill which is little more than an attempt to silence journalists, the only true opposition to your massive majority government.
Siyabonga.
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Midfield Interactive
In 2021, I helped the Ontario-based marketing agency as they built their new website, providing proofreading and copy editing services.
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Nazareth singer hails McCafferty for his 'class'
EXCLUSIVE: How retired frontman helped ease Linton Osborne's first show ordeal​
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New Nazareth singer Linton Osborne has hailed Dan McCafferty as a “class act” after the retired vocalist helped his replacement through the ordeal of his first show.
Osborne was given the job in February, months after the original frontman was forced to quit three songs into a gig in Switzerland, leaving his bandmates fearing that their careers were over.
But with McCafferty’s blessing, Nazareth powered on and hired their second-ever vocalist, who was previously a club singer – and once regularly dressed as a vampire Elvis character in a previous band.
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He made his first appearance with the Scots veterans last month in Inverness. Just before he went on his predecessor left a message on his phone.
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Osborne, who’s known Naz for years, says: “I’ve still got the message. How much nicer can a man get? There’s no way he would have wanted to give this job up. Not a chance. But he obviously had to, and he did it with such class.
“Dan and I had some great conversations over the years, but never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d be doing his job. The hardest part hasn’t been learning the songs, it’s learning every wee phrase. But our drummer Lee Agnew was fantastic; he’s got a great ear.”
Once he’d started there was no stopping him. “When you’re in the zone you don’t really think about anything else – you just want to enjoy yourself,” he says. “There’s something about rock ‘n’ roll, something it does to you. It sends a wave right through the bottom of your feet and out the top of your head and you just think, ‘This is great’. You never want it to end.”
McCafferty’s retirement means bassist Pete Agnew is the sole remaining founder member. He says: “We didn’t do auditions – we had friends in to see if they fitted. We had people writing for the job from Russia, America, Canada. We even had people from Brazil, which was really handy… just nip over for a gig in Bournemouth and back up the road!
“Linton pointed out he was available. I’d seen him sing and knew he was good. Right from the start he knew our songs anyway because he was a bit of a fan. It was perfect.”
In the weeks after the dramatic events in Switzerland last year, Naz wrestled with the choice of quitting or going on without their iconic frontman. In the end, the decision was taken to keep going and to promote the upcoming album Rock ‘N’ Roll Telephone, which was recorded before McCafferty’s departure, and features his vocals.
Agnew says: “When Dan said he wasn’t going to be doing it any more, we sat there for the first month thinking, ‘What are we going to do – are we going to continue?’ It’s like if Mick Jagger leaves the Stones. I can tell you if Keith Richards leaves, it wouldn’t matter. You can always get an instrumentalist that can be exactly like the guy who left; but you can’t imitate a singer. It was Dan himself who said he wanted the band to continue because it’s been his whole life.”
Osborne’s second and third gigs took place in Russia, the furthest his career has ever taken him. But he feels the transition from club singer to rock frontman has gone smoothly. He says: “I’ve been singing in bands since I was 16. I kept playing in bands but there wasn’t enough money in it, so I went on the cabaret circuit – pubs, clubs and holiday parks or whatever.
“I was in a band called The Monsters Of Rock and we played Classic Rock – AC/DC and Zeppelin – dressed as monsters. I was The Count, a vampire Elvis type character. We had Animal from the Muppets on drums and the Grim Reaper on bass. Frank Pagenstein who did all the Zeppelin lead guitar and a friend of mine who played Angus Young’s stuff, who called himself Angus Auld. He was only 18 at the time – that was the irony of it.”
Like any band that goes through line-up changes, Naz have come in for flak from some quarters. Guitarist Jimmy Murrison was often a target for fans of original axeman Manny Charlton – but so far Osborne hasn’t been a victim.
Agnew says: “Jimmy’s had it for years, guys shouting up to him about Manny. That guy’s been out the band for quarter of a century – are you kidding me? You still get it and it can be off putting. And for a singer it would be really annoying, but Linton’s never got that.”
Osborne vows that if the backlash does eventually come, he’ll be ready. He states: “I can handle it. I’ve got the best job in the world – I don’t care. The guys hardened me to it already, the guys and Dan.
“I’m waiting for a phone call from Brian Johnston to sort of guide me through the process of it, because he must have got a bit of that as well. It worked out okay for him, and that’s what I’m thinking. It’s not like I’ve come in and undercut Dan and took his job. It’s been a nice, welcoming handover.”
A tour of Canada to coincide with the release of Rock ‘N’ Roll Telephone starts in June, followed by more dates in Russia and a trip to Brazil.
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Further reading
Here is a collection of links to other things I've written about, provided copy for, or copy edited over the years. It covers a diverse range of topics, with the writing style adapted as necessary for the client or audience.
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Neighbourhood Dominion Lending Centres website
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Looking a Gift Horse in the Mouth
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Jake's Download Festival Dream Comes True
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30 years on, Scot breaks his silence on his six-month ordeal with a paedophile
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Vale of Leven Hospital C. diff inquiry: expert discovers 10 more deaths