News editor of the Comaro CHRONICLE Julie Maule, who was with Caxton South for nearly 24 years, wrote her final newspaper last week, before departing for the UK.
Julie began her career with Caxton on June 21, 1996, with the Alberton RECORD and was employed by Johann van der Merwe.
“I remember Mr Van with great fondness. At my interview, he of course recognised by English accent and from then on until he retired he called me ‘my lass’.
“The office then was much smaller, with rickety furniture and our computers were on the other side of the office, not on our desks. I remember when the first cellphones came out, they were huge! I think I used to talk into them like a walkie talkie,” Julie said.
A few years after beginning with the RECORD, Julie moved over to the Southern COURIER, and that is really where she found she belonged.
“I loved the diversity of the people, sitting on a kerbstone with a community member, then enjoying cucumber sandwiches with Clr Linda Lewis, who was a councillor then in Mondeor.
“It was like two different worlds and every day brought new and interesting news.”
Julie became news editor a few years down the line and then the “new” paper, Comaro CHRONICLE, was born and for a while she was news editor of both.
“It was actually meant to be the paper for the more affluent areas in the South but how the readers moaned, and I mean for years. They’d often ask, ‘why don’t we get the Southern COURIER anymore, we don’t like the Comaro CHRONICLE’.
“It was a real challenge getting them to accept the paper and even though sometimes news was shared between the two papers, it wasn’t the paper they liked!”
Julie became well-liked and loved in the South. When she began writing her column, The Bag Lady, she was well known for her funny tales as well as more serious issues.
“The Bag Lady was fantastic, a bit of light relief from the drab and sometimes violent crime stories I had to write. I used to love walking around the shops looking for new and interesting items. The column definitely put me on the map in the South.
“When it came to an end, the readers complained bitterly and said they missed it so much. Even a few months after, every time I bumped into a reader they’d moan. I was happy though it was missed so much.”
She came to know the South like the back of her hand and knew all the shortcuts to take when an accident had happened or a breaking news story and was even known to have climbed over the central barrier of the highway in a dress and stilettos to get an action shot.
“It was really funny because every time I wore my highest heels, a breaking news story would happen and I would totter off to cover it.”
Julie will be missed by many community members and readers, and she has received lots of well wishes.
“I never had the time to say farewell to everyone and I wish you well. Stay safe and take care, I’ll miss you all.”
We wish Julie the best in her new ventures and a happy retirement in the UK. She will most definitely be missed, not only by our readers but by her colleagues alike.
Carina van der Walt
Editor
