I have really fond memories of being on site at Fosseway Press in Radstock with the gang, the sound of the printing presses whirring noisily below us, the phone often ringing off the hook and the friendly banter between the printing and paper side of the business. I’ll never quite forget the smell of the ink that used to seep into my clothes and hair, the kettle always being on and the friendships made.

It seems odd to remember a time when The Journal was printing in black and white and George had to decide which spot colour we’d use for our header, front and back pages each week, but happen it did. Eventually, he had to make the more serious decision to move us out of the Fosseway Press site as The Journal needed to find its way in the modern age and print in full colour, something that wasn’t possible on that scale in Radstock and meaning a move to Blackmore Printers in Shaftesbury. The paper side of the office team moved to Midsomer Norton, and later to our current base at Paulton House, opposite Wickes.

When I joined The Journal, it had just been sold to Tindle Newspapers and I was taken on to help with a monthly publication based in Wincanton with weekly Journal reporting as well. Then the recession hit – we had a good go at it and the paper was pretty successful for a good couple of years, but not being based there was increasingly difficult and advertising revenue hard to come by as shops disappeared from the High Street. The company decided to cease publication but thankfully kept me on to help with The Journal.

When George retired in 2013, I was entrusted with his role as Editor, a huge responsibility for someone who wasn’t yet thirty years old. I quickly had to develop a harder exterior – in this role, you certainly can’t please everyone. There’s also not enough of you to go around!

And so I continued like this in a flurry of weekly deadlines for many years, Council meetings and late nights, local events, meeting and interviewing brilliant local people until the wheels feel off the world and Covid arrived. As Boris Johnson announced a national lockdown in March 2020, I put the last paper to bed and locked the office door, not knowing that it would be another six months before we opened it again.

Thankfully, the company decided to bring your local newspaper back. And how relieved we all were. Your support since our return in September 2020 has been amazing and we had no doubt that we were needed and wanted in our community.

That time for me to pause, as it did for so many, enabled me to take stock. Now that the paper is safely back on its feet and I am no longer a single, twenty-something able to work all hours of the day and night, it’s time for someone new to take the reins. Plus, I have been offered an incredible opportunity to work in the local charity sector. Whilst I am really sad to be leaving my dear colleagues, I am so excited about this next phase in my career.

So. This issue is my last. And it’s been an eventful one, as I’ve been recovering from Covid. Nothing like ending on a high!

I will leave you in the very capable hands of my dear friends and colleagues, Lucy Slade, who becomes the new Content Editor and daughter of the paper’s founder, Sarah Shipley. Funny how things come full circle.

I’d like to take a moment to pay tribute to the Shipley family – Steve saw a gap in the market during the print strikes in the 80s and that is how we ended up with our brilliant, free community newspaper that we have today. To all of the locals who stayed up all night putting the paper together by hand and then delivering it, I salute you.

Last weekend Tindle Newspapers also said goodbye to founder Sir Ray Tindle, who passed away at the age of 95. He had a lifelong commitment to hyper local news and acquired his first newspaper with his £300 demob payment. Sir Ray’s service to the industry has been immeasurable and it has been wonderful to belong to a company with this great newspaper man at the helm. He had a sparkling personality and kept a keen eye on all of the papers, even in his nineties – we all respected him greatly and he will be very much missed.

To everyone I’ve met over the years, thank you for being kind to the local press and trusting me to tell your story – there are some friendships I’ve made for life and experiences I’ll never forget. I can’t name all of the colleagues and friends (mainly because I’m worried I’ll miss someone out!) but you really do know who you all are. A massive thank you to our valued contributors and photographers who are so dedicated to keeping the community informed and to our loyal advertisers, who have been with us through thick and thin for the best part of forty years. We can’t do it without you.

This paper has such a bright future ahead of it – please keep giving it your love and support as a community to see it in to its next twenty years. As a born and bred Norton girl, I’m incredibly proud to have been part of its history.

Becky Brooks