Thank you, thank you, thank you.
On June 19, 2020, we published the first edition of The Hunter River Times and today, we deliver to you our 100th edition.
None of Team Times can really believe that we have achieved this milestone.
I remember that first edition oh so well. It was three weeks in the making and many long hours, tears and quite a bit of swearing went into its production.
I remember running into Singleton’s well know Hope Hardy in the bakery the following Sunday morning and she asked if I intended to do another one.
My response: “I certainly hope so, too much work has gone into establishing the newspaper to only do one.”
Never in my wildest dreams did I think we would get to 100 editions but here we are.
To start a business in the middle of covid was one challenge. Then there was the overarching debate about how people consume their news and if in fact, newspapers were redundant.
Initially, The Times was only going to cover Singleton and Muswellbrook to fill a void at the time when our much loved local papers stopped printing, blaming covid.
After our first edition Scone residents asked if we could include their stories.
Earlier this year, after The Cessnock Advertiser stopped printing, businesses and residents from that region wanted to also be included.
The desire for a local newspaper remains and we just keep pushing on to tell your stories.
It has been a roller coaster. The cost of paper and printing have increased significantly so on one hand you worry about the financials and then there are the massive celebrations.
Being named the best free newspaper at the NSW Country Press awards last year was mind-blowing and entirely unexpected.
There is a significant cost to producing a newspaper and the only way we can continue to do this is because of our advertising support.
On behalf of all the staff and all our readers, I thank you all so very much for continuing to invest in your community by allowing us to tell your stories through The Hunter River Times.
I also thank our wonderful publisher, Shane Davey, for his commitment to the publication, to the journalists Jem Anshaw, Jessica Rouse, Meredith Blair and Nerrin Warr, to the community engagement team of Melessa Ernst and Bec Rockley, to the distribution manager Jason Bates and his team of paper deliverers and to Rebecca Connolly who is our backbone for anything technical (which, when it comes to me is most things) and our chief designer Mel Carroll. You all do an amazing job. So, it’s a huge happy 100 to us and we will just keep on keeping on for as long as we can.
-Di Sneddon
Editor
