Martin Brunt

Rhys Jones , 11 from Liverpool has been shot dead and Martin Brunt’s family meal is brought to an abrupt end when the phone rings to tell him the news, within the hour he is being broadcast live on Sky News, breaking the story over the phone.

For 52-year-old news reporter Martin Brunt always being reachable is one of the most important qualities for a news journalist. “I never turn my phone off,” He admits; “You never know when someone might have a story or a tip-off for you.”

Whilst at the Sunday Mirror as chief reporter Martin covered many of the showbiz scoops and scandals of the late eighties. To Martin celebrities are all fair game “They try to give over this clean image in public while we all know behind closed doors they live totally different lives.” He remarks, “We only chase them if we know they’re doing something illegal or that goes totally against what they stand for.”

1989 saw a dramatic change for Martin as he took an offer to move to Sky News, the first rolling 24 hours news channel under leadership of Nick Ferrari. As a war reporter moving from conflict to conflict Martin was located in such troubled areas as Bosnia and Kuwait. “It was so scary but really exhilarating.” He explains, “Some people get addicted to the buzz and the action though I’m happy to let others do it now.”

Today Martin is the Sky News crime reporter and has no intentions of going anywhere for the foreseeable future.

Sheila Jarvis

Sheila’s earliest memory was of her younger brother, only 10 months old, as a rat jumped into his pram in their Wimbledon back garden. “I remember seeing this thing jumping into Tommy’s pram and screaming.”

Sheila Jarvis, 77 was born in Wimbledon, the fourth of 8 children. She describes great poverty in her home town during the depression, living with her three brothers and four sisters. “Our favourite shop was the sweet shop if we could get enough money for a couple of sweets,” She explains “We were desperately poor. We relied on the church for clothes and handouts.” Evacuated towards the coast at the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, Sheila arrived in Bournemouth aged only four and has remained there ever since.

Her times in Bournemouth as a child were some of her most cherished, she recalls seeing her first Pantomime at the Pavilions aged 6 as one of her favourite childhood memories.

A few of her brothers and sisters returned to her poverty stricken mother in the London suburb during the war though Sheila decided when war was over to remain in Bournemouth, being fostered locally. She was eventually married and now has two daughters and two granddaughters living in the area.

Sheila has spent most of her life working with children, as a teaching assistant and later a nurse. Today her brothers and sisters, in their retirement have returned to Bournemouth “We’ve all managed to get back together in our old age.”