Trainees take poll position

TRAINEE reporters on the Newcastle Press Association course have been wearing out their shoe leather on the election beat.

Eight intrepid volunteers blitzed the marginal seat of Tynemouth which the Tories are hoping to win back from Labour.

In a mammoth effort the group carried out a straw poll of 900 people in a day.

It looked like the vox pop from hell but they were determined not to be beaten. Each trainee had a target of 100 people to stop and ask two questions of. Every one of them hit their target and two or three went well beyond it.

Pollster supreme Tom Bristow brought back 180 responses.

The survey was carried our on behalf of The Journal which published the responses on Saturday.

One of the trainees on the course missed out on the chance to meet everyone in Tynemouth. Morgan Sheridan was excused boots because she managed to get an interview with Eddie Izzard.

Morgan was doing a video of Eddie in a coffee house while the rest of the team were putting in the hard miles. But that’s showbiz. (PJ)