A Glimpse of my life as a Communicator

Surfing the inter-Webby thing on a Sunday, as you do, I found a blurb written about me when I appeared at a Communications Conference in London in the late 90s. Those were the Days!

Laurie Manton, Head of Media and Communications, Service Personnel & Veterans Agency

Laurie Manton has been a Defence communications specialist for 25 years. His career with MoD started in the period when typewriter, fax and telephone were standard communication tools. Things have since evolved to today’s use of iMacs, iPads, digital photography and the very necessary iphone.

Ten exciting years as an assistant editor and feature writer on Soldier – the British Army Magazine, saw Laurie operating as an official war correspondent in the 1991 Gulf War and gaining useful operational PR experience. This latter knowledge served him in good stead during regular reporting bouts in Kurdistan, Bosnia-Herzigovina, Knin and Sarajevo.

He was subsequently commissioned and served in the Reserve Forces, Media Operations Group, winning the Territorial Army Photographer of the Year title twice. Widening his skills, subsequent appointments, as Head of Communications in five MOD agencies and elsewhere, This provided Laurie with an opportunity to establish himself as a multi-skilled communicator, covering work in PR, Strategic Comms Planning, Editing and Journalism, Internal Comms and, importantly, well versed in the ‘art’ of Social Media.

An inveterate Blogger, Laurie relaxes by publishing two blogs on the subjects of Creative Imagining and Graveyard Detective work, as well as maintaining a presence on many social media channels.