Staff at The Journal said a fond farewell to Editor, George Donkin, who retired from his post last Thursday, 28th March. He had been Editor of the paper for the last twenty-three years and seen huge changes in the area in that time. Staff presented him with a crystal engraved whisky decanter and glass set and a special Thomas the Tank retirement cake in homage to his well-known love of trains.
Becky Brooks, who has worked alongside George for many years and who will be Editor of the paper from this week, said: "Many of our readers and advertisers know The Journal staff personally and so, on behalf of George and myself, I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone for their kind words, both in support of George and his long history with the paper, and for the encouragement to myself in my future post. I would like to welcome new member of staff, Leah Smith, a young Journalism graduate who will be taking on my old role and who is fitting in very well.
"Leah joins John Appleton, who looks after our accounts, Sarah Clothier, who works in advertising, Jamie Long, who designs our adverts and helps maintain the website, Keith Rodgers, our proof reader, and Dave Sherborne, our photographer and delivery driver! We are a very close-knit team, working professionally and efficiently for you, our advertisers and readers, to produce a paper that we know you love to pick up and read every week.
"George will be a very hard act to follow – we wish him a very happy retirement and I'm sure we'll be seeing him in the office from time to time. So, it's really not goodbye!"