WRITING IN SHORTHAND!

 

Pitman's Shorthand - 

"I love to write in shorthand!"

When I left school at sixteen years old, I wanted to get a job in a London newspaper and train as a newspaper reporter from the bottom up. However, my mother didn't want me to leave Devon and go to the big city on my own at such a young age! She insisted I enroll at the local technical college and train to be a secretary. Wise mother as she was, she told me the shorthand and typing would come in useful if I ever did become a newspaper reporter.

I followed her sound advice and to my surprise, I found I just loved shorthand and typing. After a year, I qualified as a secretary, having also taken law, commerce and a couple of other courses, as well as Pitman's Shorthand and RSA Typing. 

I worked as a secretary for a year, then the opportunity came up in a news agency that two London Fleet Street journalists had set up. I took the job they offered me as a trainee reporter/Girl Friday and received the best newspaper and writing training ever from these two brilliant men.

Even today, I still write in shorthand most of the time when making notes to myself. It comes in very handy!