By Engin Dervișağa….
Engin’s Vox Pop Tête-à-Tête – 1/9/2013 with Chris Elliott and Margaret Sheard of http://www.cyprusscene.com
I have the wonderful job of doing outside broadcasts for BRT2 Television which gives me the opportunity of meeting people from all walks of life in their homes or places of work and places of leisure which is not only very satisfying but very interesting too. During the time I have been recording my programme, Vox Pop, I have met so many people, not only Turkish Cypriots, but also British, Russian, German and many other nationalities who live in North Cyprus and have come to make their lives here for a variety of reasons. All of the people I have interviewed enjoy their life in North Cyprus and are pleased to be a part of what is now a fairly cosmopolitan society.
This week, I visited the home of Chris Elliott and Margaret Sheard for the second time to see how things were progressing with their website http://www.cyprusscene.com, now it is entering its second year.
Interview with Chris and Margaret
The website http://www.cyprusscene.com was born in late July 2012 and I visited Chris and Margaret to find out what it was all about and recorded a programme which was aired on my show, Vox Pop on BRT2 Television, which can be seen on the cyprusscene video collection.
To recap on some of the information I gleaned at that time, Chris has lived in Cyprus for 9 years and Margaret for 10 years and they met and 
got together some 3 years ago. They both found they had a liking and a flair for writing and since then have both written for newspapers but they decided to spread their wings and try to promote all the good things about North Cyprus to a wider audience, in fact a worldwide audience, via the internet.
So at the end of August 2013, I made another visit to their home in Ozanköy to find out how the website was progressing. Firstly I interviewed Chris and he told me that the website is becoming stronger by the day, there have been many improvements to make it easier for readers to find their way around the site, and one very new but important element is the use of videos. Chris said he acquired a video camera and is working hard to perfect his skills of video-making. He said this facility makes the site even more interesting for readers and it can only improve the numbers of hits various articles are receiving. He went on to say there are so many interesting projects in hand and he and Margaret have a close relationship with John Aziz Kent who has been, and still is, passionate about promoting North Cyprus through tourism and also GAU who do so much for international education in North Cyprus and are involved in so many projects for the benefit of the TRNC. Chris said the website is going from strength to strength and is getting better and better as the weeks and months go by.
Chris said the website needs a variety of writing styles in addition to the articles he and Margaret write and over the past year a number of North Cyprus and UK writers have joined them to contribute articles covering many aspects and points of view. They are still looking for more people who want to contribute to this fast growing information
and news website.
I then spoke with Margaret to hear her views on how things were going. Margaret told me she edits and proof-reads all of the material which is published on the website as well as contributing her own articles which are very varied, from reports on charity activities to in depth stories about interesting people and events. Margaret told me she has one or two very interesting projects being researched at the moment and cannot wait to start writing and publishing them, which should make good reading for the people who visit the site. She went on to say that although it is hard and time consuming work, it is a very satisfying hobby.
Maybe I will make a note in my diary for 2014 to pay another visit to cyprusscene.com and see what another year has brought to the website and its readers worldwide.
Do join me next Sunday, 8th September, for another fascinating interview on my show, Vox Pop tête-à-tête on BRT2 Television, and you can find out about the subject of my next interview in my article to be published in the next few days on www.cyprusscene.com
