SussexWorld is proud to serve our community with real news, written by real people. This trusted news helps to keep our readers connected and engaged. Elaine is the Communities Champion for West Sussex, which means she covers all sorts of human interest stories. She was born and brought up in Surrey, and from a very young age, always said she wanted to be a journalist. Ignoring careers advisers who said it was virtually impossible to get into, she earned herself a place on an NCTJ course at Harlow and from there, won a job on the Worthing Herald in 1984. She feels like she has been at the paper ever since but in truth she has done a number of jobs in the industry, including sports editor at the Petersfield Post. Having spent most of her career as a sub editor, she went back to writing 11 years ago. She loves her role as Communities Champion, covering all the articles about people at the heart of our area. In her spare time, she loves going out and about, exploring the countryside and visiting the many places of interest we are lucky to have nearby. She recently ran a series of West Sussex walks with photos and video to guide you, which has proved hugely popular.