FEATURES
Jumped ship or pushed, many journalists are looking to switch careers. Isobel Finbow and Sophie Hurcom talk to four who have taken the plunge
THERE IS
Sam Jary Viticulturist, France After graduating from City in 1998, Sam Jary, 39, started his career in journalism as an assistant producer at Reuters Financial Television before becoming news editor at The Sentinel and Sentinel Sunday in 1999. But he decided to take a break and, along with then-girlfriend (now wife), fellow journalist Eleanor Wilson, he left his job to travel. He got a taste for winemaking while working as a cellar hand in a winery in New Zealand. On their return to the UK in 2001, the couple moved to Cumbria and Jary took a job as a sub-editor at The Cumberland News and News & Star. In 2005, weary of pre-deadline pressure and death knocks, Jary left journalism to do a postgraduate diploma in Viticulture and Oenology at Lincoln University, New Zealand. “I enjoyed the physical work, arcane knowledge, complex decision-making and eccentric mix of people that winemaking attracts.”
after After graduating as a winemaker and viticulturist in 2005, he began growing and making wine in New Zealand and now in France with his wife. “It sounds naff but I enjoy the feeling that I’m making a product that is going to bring enjoyment to people, possibly for decades to come, rather than putting all that effort into some bad news story that would end up lining the cat litter tray a day later.” While having wine on tap might seem like many people’s fantasy, Jary insists that “tasting thirty barrels of red wine at 8am is not very pleasant”. When the sun is shining Jary says he wouldn’t swap places with anyone. He does, however, admit there are elements of his journalism days that he misses. “I miss the company of journalists, the black humour, the adrenalin and the post-adrenalin buzz. And, bizarrely, the cigarettes, although I gave them up years ago.” Jary likens being a journalist to being an alcoholic. “Once you are one, you’re one for life, even when you’re cured.”
DAVID GLEDHILL, BAG DESIGNER, BATH As editor of the Bath Chronicle, David Gledhill carried a stylish bag to work every day. Seven years ago, instead of laughing at his accessory choice, people started to ask where they could buy a similar bag, and a business was born. Gledhill registered blokesbags.co.uk, an online site selling bags for men. Despite starting the project as a hobby, Gledhill decided to “make a go of it” three years later, and left his job as editor. The company now specialises in everything from briefcases to backpacks to laptop cases. Gledhill spent 27 years working as a journalist. He started at The Spenborough
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Guardian in Cleckheaton before moving to the Dewsbury Reporter, Bradford Telegraph and Argus, and the Evening Advertiser Swindon, and spent over ten years as editor of the Bath Chronicle. But plans to turn the daily Bath Chronicle into a weekly paper were the final straw for Gledhill. “I just couldn’t do it. I fought too hard to save the Chronicle to see it turned into a weekly.” What is different about Gledhill’s job today? “It can be very stressful, particularly if things aren’t going that well. But I am very flexible. I do what I want, when I want...within reason! I had the best of times in journalism, and I can
say that those were 27 fabulous years of my life. But now I can move on.”