We’ve launched a community membership scheme

We are changing the way we work. For all newspapers, the days of talking at readers are over. It’s time to start listening to what readers want. 

From now all our papers will be more than just your community newspaper: we will be your community-led newspaper.

In order to achieve that goal, we are launching a community membership scheme.

For as little as £2 per month, we want you to support our goals. 

We want to work on the stories that are important to you. We want to hold power to account on your behalf. We want to fight your corner. And, most importantly, we want to provide local employment by paying local reporters to work with us.

But we will only be able to do this with community support.

Reinvested

Right now, our hard working staff do not have the resources to be able to achieve everything we would like to achieve. As a result, and very frustratingly, we have been unable to  work on some of the stories you have asked us to investigate. 

As a not-for-profit community interest company, all our revenue is reinvested in our papers, but right now that is only just enough to pay our current running costs, the biggest of which are  wages, printing, delivery and rent.

In order to help investigate the stories you want us to look into, we need to be able to commission more reporters. 

Committed

We are committed to supporting our local communities, so your financial support will not only help build a  stronger community for us all, but will be specifically used to provide employment to aspiring local journalists – people who live and work in our local area and who want to help change our communities for the better.

We don’t believe that just because we are a ‘small’ local paper that we can’t do things as well as the big guns – in fact, we believe we can do better. 

Who is currently listening to you? Who is investigating the stories that are important to you locally? Who is campaigning on your behalf? Who is holding local power to account?

The reality is that the vast majority of the UK print media – 90% according to a 2021 Media Reform Coalition report – is owned and controlled by just three companies. 

In our experience, as more and more titles are bought over, newsrooms have been shredded and what matters to local communities is no longer of interest to larger news organisations. 

Are they listening to you, or are they telling you what to think?

We intend to reverse that trend and stand up once more for our local communities. 

To do that well, we will need your help. 

Contribution

While your financial contribution could not be more important, we would also be delighted if you wanted to share some of your skills with us. Or maybe you just want us to look into something? We’re listening and we’re committed to working with you.

In return, we promise that our team will deliver independent local journalism of the highest quality.

We will hold power to account, we will campaign for change, and we want to amplify marginalised voices.  We also want to make it clear from the outset that we will continue to do everything we currently do. 

Your paper will always be free to read and delivered to your door.  Our website will always be free to read – there will never be a firewall – and our digital content will be improved.  

The membership scheme is aimed only at those who can afford to make a contribution and who believe in our vision for what a community newspaper should be: namely an active, investigative and campaigning voice for local people. 

We are rooted in our local communities and, with your help, we intend to give our communities back the voice they have lost for too long now.

Become a member today and help build a stronger community for us all.