Tindle-owned Crediton Country Courier celebrated its first anniversary as a weekly title with a staff luncheon hosted by Tindle Newspapers owner and chairman Sir Ray Tindle and vice chairman Wendy Craig.
May 2013 saw the successful transition of the Crediton Courier from a fortnightly newspapers to a weekly, a feat that has rarely been achieved, certainly during a long recession, as Sir Ray pointed out in his speech to the Crediton Courier staff yesterday (Tuesday 17th June 2014).
One year on not only has this transition been achieved it has also been very successful and has increased circulation and boosted advertising revenues.
Sir Ray paid tribute to managing director of Crediton Courier Simon Parsonson and the local Crediton team led by Sean Constable, general manager, Alan Quick, editorial manager, Sue Read, senior reporter and Courier founder and the whole Courier team including Arthur Sharp who has just completed 70 years in the newspaper industry and retires at the end of June having started as an apprentice on D-Day!
The Tindle philosophy of ‘local names and local faces’ is one that general manager Sean Constable said was the reason for the success and is the backbone of all Tindle editions.
It is this concept that has kept all Sir Ray’s titles successful despite six tough years and without any compulsory redundancies among journalists. Sir Ray Tindle expressed to the Courier team that local papers will continue for at least another 200 years.
Sir Ray also praised Sue Read for launching the Courier 40 years ago in the teeth of strong opposition, at its time it was a monthly newspaper and produced on a kitchen table, in 1980 it became a fortnightly before becoming weekly in 2013.
Sir Ray Tindle launched his first newspaper having left the army at the end of the Second World War with £300 demob money; the Tindle group successfully publishes over 200 weekly newspapers.
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