GOSH, Christmas is flying towards us at the speed of an out-of-control racehorse. And most unusually for me, I’ve been caught quite flatfooted this year in that I’ve done little, if any, Christmas shopping, and the annual spirit seems to be napping in its mantel stocking in a back cupboard somewhere. Mind you, there’s a lot going on in our household. As many of you will be aware, this is the last full week I will be at the helm of the King Country News as its editor. It’s a position I’ve held for the past two-and-a-half years, following two years as sub-editor. As I look back on it, I am really proud of what my team has achieved in the atrociously difficult historical events of Covid lockdowns, supply chain issues, economic uncertainties, both national and global, war in Europe (which we never thought we’d see), local and national natural disasters and everything else this strange new century has given us. Positive changes Yet through it all, as a newspaper, we’ve managed to make unique, solid changes for the better; changing our name to reflect the full region we represent, bringing all our news into single, much meatier 32-plus page papers every week (right through to the record combined 72-pager a couple of weeks back); a strong facebook presence, – our video on the truck crossing Kopaki bridge has had more than half a million views and made it into the US this week – and these days the new King Country App, which is still evolving as we look down the barrel of a looming worldwide shortage of newsprint in coming years. We’ve grown the King Country Farmer into a bigger and brighter paper, we now have holiday editions, an annual fundraising cookbook – and we’ve done all this flying in the face of much tougher economic times than New Zealand has faced for the past 40 years. And we’ve continued the tradition of winning and being placed in national media awards, punching above our weight in content and design. The re-engagement of our communities has been gratifying; this shows in the regular numbers of Letters to the Editor and the at times almost 100k engagements on our Facebook page. And I get stopped in the street a great deal by readers who comment on everything from my recipes and editorial columns (usually in that order!), to the contentious stories of the day we’ve never been afraid to tell. Right track These things tell us here at the King Country News we are on the right track and giving our readers what they want to read. You see, it’s your paper and justifiably, you’ve never let us forget it. Nor should you. I’m just one of a number of editors who have shepherded their teams across the years into providing the news and views of our people. And I’ve loved every minute of it. But it’s time for me to move on, semi-retire, write my books, for Ken to also retire and go gold panning. So for the dismayed people I ran into at the local markets the other day – you haven’t quite got rid of me. I’ll still be writing the recipes, the garden column – and having an opinion column to boot. It is ink that runs in old journalists’ veins after all. So thank you all for the letters, the phone calls, the stopping for a chat. From me and my wonderful team, we hope you enjoy this Christmas and New Year and let’s be sure to see you all safe and well on the other side. Ka kite ano.
