'The articles I'll never forget from my eight years at WalesOnline'

Welsh Affairs Editor Will Hayward looks back at some of his most memorable pieces of work during his time at WalesOnline

On September 23 I will be leaving WalesOnline and I have been asked to put together a piece looking back at my time here. It is almost eight years to the day since I started here as a trainee.

In that time I have had several roles. I became a senior reporter, then I moved on to be social affairs correspondent. When our excellent political editor Ruth Mosalski went on maternity leave in early 2020 I took over as political editor for a year. This was a great opportunity to cover Welsh politics but unfortunately for me that was the day before the first lockdown. After that year was up I became Welsh affair editor which meant I could focus on longer deep investigations.

From the moment I walked through the front door I felt at home. I couldn’t (and frankly still can’t) believe that I was paid to tell stories for a living. I loved everything about it. Whether that be the breaking news, speaking to people or covering politics, it has been fantastic.

I was really nervous to start with because I am dyslexic. I felt certain I was going to get found out as a fraud any minute as soon as I had to type in front of someone without first using spell check (which can often happen as a trainee when an editor talks you through your copy). Luckily I had a really supportive employer who was happy to focus on my strengths and mitigate my weaknesses. I ended up writing this piece about being a dyslexic jouro.

One of those things they let me focus on was going out and writing features. It was amazing as a trainee to be given this licence. Some of the pieces I went out and wrote were:

• The Other Premier League - I got six weeks where I was able to follow Carmarthen Town AFC around and simply write about what I saw. It was one of the most wonderful experiences (including meeting the enigma that is Mark Aizielwood).
• The Last Worshipper - This is one of my favourite stories I ever got to write. The man in question has sadly now died but he had the most interesting story to tell.
• The Iron Town of Tenby - Imagine been allowed to just walk round Tenby for three days. It takes time to get to know the soul of a place and you can only do that by getting stuck in an speaking to people.

After I passed my seniors I wanted something to get stuck into beyond a one-off story. One of these was covering the awful epidemic of violence against women. This involved interviewing some of the brave women I have ever met.:

• Jodie Tague - She was the survivor who testified in one of the first ever successful convictions for controlling or coercive behaviour. I was so humbled meeting her. She was so courageous.
• Charlotte Rooks
  - I conducted several interviews with Charlotte. What she went through at the hands of her abuser is sickening. There is a reason the judge in her case described her as "one of worst ever domestic abuse cases".
• The former Gwent Police officers - This story was the first of a series I did looking at the systemic abuse within Gwent Police of their own officers by senior men in the force. This included an interview with family of Ricky Jones.

Perhaps the most harrowing interview I ever conducted was with Amer Hussain who had to endure horrific sexual abuse over many years as well as the reaction of his community when he brought his abusers to court.

These pieces led to me taking over the role of social affairs correspondent that allowed me to cover more political stories. This included exposing questionable money flowing to Welsh politicians, shady Facebook groups and politicians employing family members. I went undercover to expose potential hypocrisy of the Welsh Tory leader and my investigations have led to the resignations of former Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price and former First Minister Vaughan Gething.

In the last few years of my time here I have been writing extensively on the issue of poverty. This is one of the biggest issues facing Wales. It can be hard to write about poverty in an area without also feeling like you're talking the place down. In a series I did on Maesteg, Penrhiwceiber, Riverside and Butetown. I tried my best to show the best of these places as well as the challenges.

The thing that I will remember most about my time here was Covid. It was simultaneously the hardest I have ever worked and the time I felt like my journalism most mattered. People were really scared (hell so was I) and I was hyper conscious that it was a really privileged position to be able to ask decision makers direct questions about this virus which was killing people.

A colleague and I wrote the piece that first demonstrated that decision makers knew that symptomatic transmission of the virus was possible. I am particularly proud of this piece which documented how Welsh Government failings directly impacted people in Wales. These breakdowns of both the UK Gov and Welsh Gov’s mistakes during the pandemic formed the basis of the campaign for a Welsh inquiry as well as being repeatedly referenced in the UK Covid Inquiry.

The pandemic also culminated in the most bizarre story I have ever written - the fact that loads of people think Mark Drakeford is my uncle for no reason…

A few words about WalesOnline

WalesOnline gets a hell of a lot of criticism. Like every person, newsroom and organisation, they don’t get everything right.

But I can honestly say I have never met such a dedicated, talented and wonderful group of people. They all call Wales home and are passionate about covering their patch. It was a privilege to work alongside such a great bunch.

You won’t hear me say a bad word about the place. Constructive feedback is always valuable but not belittling the work of younger journos who are doing the best they can in an industry that continues to change beyond all recognition.

Finding a way to fund online news is really hard and the reporters/editors work their socks off everyday. I am really grateful I got to be a part of it and learn from them.