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When 15-year-old Joseph Linden from Saval was offered the chance to try his hand at journalism, he didn't pick easy targets. Instead, the St Colman's student set his sights on interviewing two of Newry's most remarkable figures: Father Peter McVerry, founder of the Peter McVerry Trust, and legendary athlete Willie McCracken. What followed was a masterclass in preparation and skill that resulted in two outstanding articles, proving that when it comes to telling local stories that matter, age is just a number.
The assignment came about from a Public Interest News Foundation project, funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, that gave local students the opportunity to write for a local news outlet. Joseph with the help of project co-ordinator Kayley Curtis, was taught interview techniques, writing styles and of course the importance of planning and preparation.
PINF launched the UK’s first Local News Plan in Newry in 2024. Consultation with the local community identified two key priorities for the proposed fund: creating more opportunities for young people to develop their talents, and providing greater resources for existing media outlets. This project includes both priorities, the articles being written by a talented young student for Newry.ie.
Joseph asked both men for interviews and thankfully they both accepted without question. All then that was needed was to arrange interviews, prepare a list of questions for each and let the conversations flow.
Fr McVerry lives in Dublin and Joseph emailed him and arranged to meet in the Canal Court. Recognising your interviewee isn't always straightforward though.
"I was waiting at the door and he walked past me. I didn't realise it was him, and about 10 minutes later, I was still waiting for him, and he came back to the doorway from inside the Canal Court, and said, are you Joseph Linden?"
Fr McVerry came down from Belfast something that Joseph really appreciated "I thought it was mad because he had come down from Belfast for half an hour interview only to go back up. It was very good of him"
As he explained "I had my notes down in prep. I had a couple of pages of questions written down with spaces for notes. It was all prepped out." The interviewing itself he enjoyed, making sure to keep his questions open-ended and leaving himself open to thinking of questions on the hop. Research was also carried out on article writing structure.
Joseph felt that Fr McVerry was very used to interviews and had no bother replying to his questions in detail, from growing up in Newry, to helping those who live on the streets in Dublin, to mentioning that he doesn't plan to retire any time soon, 'you don't retire from compassion' - one of the telling lines featuring in Joseph's outstanding story.
The article on Willie McCracken is equally captivating, a story of his passion for running and his skill for motivating others. As Joseph says 'After more than 50 years he hasn't stopped running'. But while McCracken talks of today's young athletes being 'a different class altogether' he really could just as easily have been talking about himself!
In his spare time Joseph is involved in drama at St Colman's and is currently rehearsing for the upcoming production of Oklahoma. He's also big into literature, music and writing. As a hobby he's even managed to write a 45,000 word story on his 'character' in the Dungeons and Dragons board game.
Kayley Curtis who coordinated the project said "Through his involvement in this initiative, Joseph has demonstrated the remarkable talent and enthusiasm for local public interest journalism that thrives in Newry, and his contribution reflects the spirit of innovation and community engagement that the Local News Plan was created to support.
"Joseph is a talented young man who no doubt has a bright future in journalism and creative writing."
Joseph thinks the project went very well and he was so glad to be able to take part. "I really enjoyed it. It was a really good opportunity to get, it was only older lads getting it and I got offered it, so I'm really pleased that I got to actually do it. All of the methods and techniques that Kayley was saying to us every week, about interviewing techniques and writing techniques and tonnes of stuff. It was really interesting."
Asked to be critical of his own interviewing experience he said "If I was my worst critic, I would say maybe I didn't get enough detail, I think I would like to have got more detail, like facts and figures as well as all the quotes that I got from them."
Looking at his stories though, Columba O'Hare, Editor of Newry.ie couldn't fault them. "I'm majorly impressed by Joseph's articles on two of Newry's all-time greats. His writing gives an excellent biography of both men, but more than that, from a parochial point of view it explains exactly how Newry helped make them who they are, but also the part it has played in them wanting to 'give back'." he said.
"Newry.ie is so grateful to PINF and the Paul Hamlyn Foundation who funded the project, giving Newry school-goers the opportunity to enhance their writing skills while providing top class stories for our local news site." Columba added.
At 15 Joseph isn't too bothered about working out what direction his career will take but he says he would certainly consider journalism. Judging from the articles he has written, it's a path that could be right up his street.
Newry.ie will publish Joseph's stories in the coming days.
