Chipper idea sees return of Chipper
Reach plc has revived a popular cartoon dog mascot from the past and teamed up with schools to help parents home-schooling their children.
As part of its online news service In Your Area, the publishers has brought back the Chipper Club which was originally created by Birmingham Mail and featuring Chipper the dog.
Each week the Chipper Club will create a new project for children that they can do at home. The projects are designed with input from primary school teachers to ensure they fit in with the curriculum.
The Chipper Club was originally created between the wars to entertain kids. Based on a black and white spotty mongrel, Chipper inspired more 165,000 kids on the Birmingham Mail, Hartlepool Mail, Sunderland Echo and other newspapers to sign up for the club and earn a Chipper badge.
The Chipper Club was so popular that it even enrolled one of the Queen’s dogs, also called Chipper, onto its books in 1981.
Once each project is done, parents are asked to submit a photo of their child’s work to the Chipper Club for publication online and in our newspaper titles.
At the end of the lockdown period, Reach will send all Chipper Club members a certificate to take back to school.
Return to the days of pen pals
Norfolk regional dailies The Eastern Daily Press and Norwich Evening News have launched a “pen pal” scheme for readers left lonely by the coronavirus outbreak.
The Here to Help: Not Alone initiative invites readers who are feeling cut off and lonely to be put in touch with others in their communities. Readers can use either the regular postal service or email to correspond with new friends during the Covid-19 lockdown.
Reporter Donna-Louise Bishop, who is overseeing the campaign, told HTFP website: “Here to Help: Not Alone is all about steering the focus towards positive mental health and wellbeing and counteracting the effects of social isolation.
“With this in mind, the EDP and Norwich Evening News have set up a pen friend scheme to bring people together during this unprecedented series of events.
“We want to connect groups and individuals who want to both receive letters, as well as write them – whether that be via our postal service or email.
NPCC issues guidance on working with journalists during Covid-19 outbreak
The National Police Chiefs Council has today issued guidance on working with journalists during the Covid-19 outbreak. The guidance states that officers are likely to have contact with journalists who will continue doing their job during the Government’s Covid-19 Coronavirus restrictions. Officers are reminded that journalists have been recognised as key workers and that “there is a public interest in keeping the population informed of the developing crisis and subsequent recovery / return to normality”. The guidance goes on to say that journalists will be expected to carry a UK Press Card or other official record of employment and that police will engage with them if officers are unsure why they are out.
