South West Durham News CIC is a small, independent and trusted community newspaper publisher, regulated by IMPRESS, which publishes four popular and successful titles in the south west area of County Durham: the Shildon & District Town Crier, Ferryhill & Chilton Chapter, Bishop Press and Spennymoor News.
Each paper is free to read and unique to each town, providing relevant local news, events and information for residents and they are delivered to every home by an enthusiastic team of local paperboys and girls, who are all paid.
Our papers are not only for their local communities, but are in large part contributed to by local groups and are loyally supported by local businesses.
Our papers are complimented by our website, which provides a one-stop-shop of both local and county-wide news and advertising to our communities.
South West Durham News is a Community Interest Company with a not-for-profit ethos which means every penny earned is invested back into making our papers informative, entertaining and most importantly, a vital community asset.
~8,000 homes reached weekly
About
The Ferryhill & Chilton Chapter was our first publication and has been providing free weekly news to the people of Ferryhill, Chilton and surrounding villages since 2000.
The Shildon & District Town Crier came along about three months later and has been providing weekly news to the people of Shildon, Eldon and Middridge ever since.
Spennymoor News was added to our portfolio to prevent the largest town in South West Durham becoming a news desert after the closure of its previous paper. It has been published fortnightly since 2018.
Archie has been with South West Durham News since 2012, and was previously the award-winning editor of Am Paipear, a community newspaper in the Outer Hebrides.
YVONNE HAWKEY, Director
Yvonne has returned to her North East roots after running a successful PR company in London. She still runs her business, but also helps out at community events organiser, Baccanalia.
NIGEL BRYSON, Director
Nigel is a highly respected community activist in Bishop Auckland who has had many roles, including leading the Bishop Auckland Town Team and was most recently deputy Police and Crime Commissioner for County Durham.
CHRIS HOUKE, Production Assistant
Chris is a jack-of-all-trades and will often be the friendly voice you hear on the other end of the phone. He is in training in assisting the creation of the papers and helps to take care of our advertisers.
LAURA BAILIE, Digital Content Coordinator
Starting in 2023 in our drive to become more digital, Laura uploads our articles to the website, designs our in-house graphics and sends out our weekly online newsletter.
Testimonials
I enjoy reading our local community newspaper and look forward to the latest copy appearing through our letterbox. It is a great way of keeping up to date with local news, events and activities occurring within the area.
Ferryhill & Chilton Chapter Reader
Very well produced and informative local newspaper with dedicated staff.
Shildon & District Town Crier Reader
We moved from a town in West Yorkshire to a town in County Durham. There was no local newspaper in West Yorkshire and the town felt disjointed and lost in a big city close by. I noticed a big difference here when we arrived – there is a community feel to the paper and I think this is to be encouraged and sponsored as it will bring benefits such as less isolation to everyone who lives in the area. I would be really sad if these local papers were to stop being produced because of lack of funds.
Helen Connell, Bishop Press Reader
I look forward to receiving my newsletter. It’s nice to read what’s been happening in our community and photos make the articles more personal and interesting. It’s an opportunity for people to find out about community events as there is so much going on in the town.
Spennymoor News Reader
Gallery
SWDN Address
3 – 4 First Floor Offices Town Council Offices Civic Hall Square Shildon County Durham DL4 1AH
Printers
MT Print North Park House Whessoe Road Darlington DL3 0YL
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