I was a product of Wingham Public and Wingham High schools and had a brief stint at uni where I decided maths teaching wasn't for me, fortunate really as there were no maths teaching jobs going should I have chosen to complete my degree. I was one of a handful of female maths students and a lot of my fellow (male) cohort ended up working with Telecom or the mines, as this was Newcastle.

Journalism wasn't my dream job, I hadn't given it much thought as I was on a degree pathway and there were no journalism or communications courses at the time that I had heard of. And careers advice was also limited to applying for scholarships and early admittance to universities. How things have changed.

But had it been explained to me that journalism was really about connecting with your community and championing its causes, had I known the doors it opened up and the people I would meet, I would have been much more enthused about my career and paid less attention to the remuneration, which equated to about $3 more than the dole at the time. Well, it was the '70s.

I'm not going to reflect back on those 46 years, too much has happened, so much has changed, and most of it has been wonderful. But the job is the same, telling people's stories, sharing the triumphs and tragedies that go with life. We live in a great community.

Toni Bell

Editor