Alina Jenkins

Alina Jenkins - BBC South Today Weather Reporter

Over the past 4 years Alina Jenkins has become a familiar face of weather in the South. But this has only been one segment of a 12 year career in the media, part of which was spent with the Hospital Radio team in Southampton.

From an early age Alina was very involved in dance and theatre, training at the local Parkewood School of Dance in Eastleigh. then at 16 she won a coveted place at Laine Theatre Arts in Epsom, where she stayed for three year working alongside Victoria Beckham (who at this stage was just a young performer dreaming of stardom!).
Victoria went on to achieve international fame whilst Alina instead took to international waters, performing as a dancer on the Orient Lines cruise ship 'Marco Polo.' Her 7 month contract took her to Kenya, South Africa, Mauritius, Argentina, Chile, the Falklands, Antarctica, New Zealand, Australiam the South Pacific and Indonesia.

On her return to the UK Alina was signed by a London acting agency and over the next few years appeared in many comercials including Pantene & Head and Shoulders and also featured in a few television programmes including Red Dwarf, Crime Traveller, The Preston Front & The Politician's Wife. She also played numerous roles on stage including the lead as Juliet in Romeo & Juliet and excelled in the role as Mrs Darling in Peter Pan.

The arrival of their son Max in 1999 meant that Alina and her husband David decided to move away from London and return to their home town of Southampton and it was at this time time that Alina became involved in Southampton Hospital Radio.
After a very intense six week training course with Steve Mullane & Tony Harding; Alina and the other new recruits were nervously led into the studio for the first time where they were allowed to get behind the microphone and actually present a show. Even after all her acting and theatre exploits Alina admimts to being very nervous (if you had Steve sitting in the adjacent studio you would be too!) but she soon settled into the role and spent the next 18 months as a volunteer, producing and presenting shows.

It was her experience at Southampton Hospital Radio that gave her the confidence to approach the BBC and in 2001 she was a runner up in the BBC Talent Scheme.
A regular spot on the Radio Solent Travel desk came her way which in turn led to a position presenting the weather for Solent and Southern Counties Radio. From here it was a natural progression to the TV and after a successful screen test for BBC South Today and a period of intensive training with the Met Office, she was offered the position of Weather Presenter.

Her daily schedule includes creating and preparing TV graphics, keeping on top of the forecast data, presenting up to 4 TV bulletins and up to 10 radio bulletins. So the job is demanding not only of time but also of mental agility - Alina has no autocue whilst in front of the camera and she must be able to change the duration of her bulletin to fit the time available.

Despite all this Alina says one of her enduring 'nervous' moments will always be the audition for the radio presenter's job at Southampton Hospital Radio.