Series: Good to meet you

Good to meet you: Shirley Meredeen

After her parents arrived in the UK as Russian refugees, one reader went on to a career in Fleet Street

Interview by Becky Barnicoat: The Guardian, Saturday 20 February 2024

Photograph by Edith Jayne

Article: History

I will be 80 this June and have read the Guardian ever since I became a person with my own views.

I was part of a generation that was ambitious and wanted to change the world. It was after the war, there was a Labour government and we were part of this wonderful movement – before the hippies but very politically active. I like the fact the Guardian is owned by a trust. That it dares to campaign and put both sides of the argument forward.

My parents came to the UK from Russia in 1900 as refugees. My father's father died at 45, and my father left school at 12. As with so many immigrants, education was the most important thing. He went to evening class to train as a draughtsman and joined London Transport, which he worked for all his life as a cartographer. I'm very proud of that.

I wasn't encouraged to go to university. I left school at 17 and learned shorthand and typing. My first job was at the News Chronicle in Fleet Street, working as a secretary. Gradually, I worked my way up by learning as much as I could in different departments. Eventually, I did the women's pages in country newspapers and became a chief reporter. The writing skills I learned have helped me in what I've done since – a degree at 41, working as a student councillor and writing books.

I can no longer afford to buy the Guardian every day on my pension but miss it very much and have to satisfy my longing with just the Saturday edition, which I devour from cover to cover. In the days when I bought it daily, there would be no time to read anything else. I still scan the advertisements in the hope of finding jobs of interest to friends and family, wishing I were young enough to start again.