In 1936 John Morton - a First World War veteran - beganthe success story of Morton Newspapers when he boughtthe Lurgan Mail, his home-town local paper.

Having worked for some time with the now-defunct Belfastmorning newspaper, the Northern Whig, Mr Morton decid-ed to enter the trade as a proprietor, but never dreamed itwould burgeon into the empire of today.

The major push for new titles came when his son, JamesMorton, took over the company - he was prolific in his addi-tion of new titles to the Morton portfolio. He saw the poten-tial in the busy town of Lisburn, where he started the UlsterStar from scratch, bought over the Portadown Times in hisneighbouring town, took over the Londonderry Sentinel,purchased the Larne and Ballymena Times series from theBelfast Telegraph, set up the Coleraine Times series, amonga number of never-ending expansions.

During all this expansion, James Morton set up Ireland'sfirst web offset printing press in Lurgan, and initiated colourinto the provincial weekly scene.

The third generation of the family - John Morton - contin-ued the progress when he introduced new titles like theTyrone Times and Banbridge Leader and the firm movedinto the £4.5 million purpose-built headquarters at Carn,Portadown, in November 1995.

This move coincided with the acquisition of the MortonNewspapers Group by Scottish Radio Holdings and furtherinvestment kept the company ahead in the technologicalfield.

The group was acquired by Johnston Press in August 2005– making it part of the UK’s second biggest local newspaperpublisher and a major force on the internet.

Morton Newspapers’ history

Darwin Templeton, editor of the News Letter, said:“The opening of the new press at Carn is just thelatest chapter in a story that began in Belfast in

1737.No other newspaper in the English-speaking world has

such a rich heritage and it’s one that we are very proud of.“While we are forging ahead with our digital platforms, the

printed product is still at the core of our business and stillrepresents a daily essential for tens of thousands of faithfulreaders up and down the country.

“With this impressive new technology at our disposal, weintend to push ahead with the development of the NewsLetter, drawing on our famous past, but adapting andimproving our service to the community in the future.”

Darwin Templeton, editor of the News letter

Jean Long has welcomed the completion of the £10mpress project at the company’s Carn headquarters onthe outskirts of Portadown.

“This investment underlines our continuing commit-ment to all of our titles in the Province,” she said.“Despite the current economic downturn we are lookingto a clear and definite future and we will continue to lookat further investments in both technology and in people.

“The new press facility brings extra colour and printingcapacity and assures our ability to meet the needs of ouradvertisers and readers, both now and in the foreseeablefuture.

“Our newspapers are at the heart of their communitiesand, while our local websites continue to grow, the printproduct remains the core of our market.

“While looking to the future we are also aware of thelong-standing reporting traditions our newspapers repre-sent, as chronicled on these pages.

“The News Letter has its place in the history books asthe oldest, continuously published, printed English lan-guage newspaper still in existence.

“And I know News Letter staff see themselves as carry-ing on that tradition, with this new press facility being thelatest chapter in a story stretching back to 1737.

“People still want their local news from a trustworthyand familiar source and all our titles are easily recognizedand trusted by their communities.

“That is something we don’t see changing as we contin-ue to reflect the ebb and flow of life in our communities.”

Jean Long, NI divisional managing director of Johnston Publishing

JOHNSTON Press has just completed a new£10m press project at the company’s Carn head-quarters on the outskirts of Portadown.

A brand new state-of-the-art computer-to-plateroom has been set up and, whereas in the past therewere two machines, now there are three fully com-puter-controlled to image plates.

To this add a new reel room, press hall and newloading bays.With a capacity of 30,000 copies of 96-page full-

colour newspapers per hour - 60,000 copies every 60minutes for papers of 48 pages or fewer – JohnstonPress is in a better position than ever before to copewith whatever demands come its way.Press Hall manager Robin Logan explained, “Most

of that huge sum of £10 million has gone on thebuilding rather than on the press itself.“It has taken 15 months to do this work and as wellas improved quality printing and greater capacitythis venture has seen us employ more staff.”

New jobs have been created, with positions forthree additional printers and five press-assistantsflowing from the multi-million pound upgrade.“Whereas previously there were nine on the night-

shift, now there are 13,” Robin said. “In the past wehad to use staff who tucked inserts by hand. Now,however, we are up to eight automated inserts.“That has greatly increased our capacity for leaflets

and supplements and, in the modern era, that’svital.“These are a big part of today’s newspaper indus-

try, so in order to be able to compete you have tomatch or better your rivals’ capacities.”

Each night at Carn, Jonhnston Press prints threeexternal titles - The Guardian, Daily Record andDaily Sport. In-house it also prints the News Letter.

To this add the group’s 22 Morton Newspapersprovincial weekly titles - Portadown Times, LurganMail, Craigavon Echo, Ulster Star (Lisburn),Banbridge Leader, Dromore Leader, Lisburn Echo,Tyrone Times, Mid-Ulster Mail, Mid-Ulster Mail(South Derry edition), Mid-Ulster Echo, LarneTimes, Carrick Times, Newtownabbey Times, EastAntrim Advertiser, Ballymena Times, Antrim

Times, Ballymoney Times, Coleraine Times,Londonderry Sentinel, Roe Valley Sentinel andNorth-West Echo.

The areas served by these titles includePortadown, Craigavon, Lurgan, Armagh, Tandragee,Scarva, Richhill, Moy, Markethill, Poyntzpass,Gilford, Waringstown, Donacloney, Magheralin,Moira, Aghagallon, Aghalee, Lisburn, Hillsborough,Dromore (County Down), Glenavy, Saintfield,Castlereagh, Dromara, Ballynahinch, Dunmurry,Finaghy, Crumlin, Ballinderry, Carryduff,Knockbreda, Cairnshill, Moneyreagh, Cregagh,Newtownbreda, Belvoir, Dundonald, Banbridge,Rathfriland, Cookstown, Magherafelt, Dungannon,Stewartstown, Moneymore, Draperstown,Stewartstown, Maghera, Bellaghy, Tobermore,Castledawson, Desertmartin, Ballyronan,

Coalisland, Clogher, Augher, Caledon, Aughnacloy,Granville, Ballygawley, Castlecaulfield, Dromore(County Tyrone), Larne, Carrickfergus,Newtownabbey, Whitehead, Ballyclare,Greenisland, Ballygally, Mossley, Glenarm,Carnlough, Islandmagee, Monkstown, Glengormley,Ballymena, Antrim, Randalstown, Ahoghill, Kells,Cullybackey, Galgorm, Gracehill, Broughshane,Portglenone, Coleraine, Ballymoney, Ballycastle,Portrush, Portstewart, Bushmills, Rasharkin,Dervock, Armoy, Castlerock and Kilrea.

This extensive list shows the large percentage ofthe province served by Johnston Press titles – peo-ple who rely on the company for their local newsand advertising coverage. And this is a service whichis set to improve and develop with the new pressfacility in Portadown.

State of the art pressproject is completed

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Keeping advertisingstandards high

Tim Bowdler, chief executive of Johnston Press; Darwin Templeton, News Letter editor; Jean Long, divisionalmanaging director of Johnston Press (Northern Ireland), and Johnston Press chairman Roger Parry pictured duringa recent visit to the new press facility at Carn, Portadown. PICTURE: Gavan Caldwell)

THE £10m investment by Johnston Press ina new printing press at its Portadown sitewill provide further opportunities to growits business in Northern Ireland, the compa-ny’s outgoing chief executive declared whenhe visited Northern Ireland last month.

Tim Bowdler made the statement as heheaded his final meeting with the JohnstonPress Board at the Carn site, where themembers saw the new state-of-the-art 96-page full-colour press in action.

The investment by Edinburgh-basedJohnston Press, which acquired the NewsLetter, Derry Journal group of newspapersand Morton Newspapers in 2005, alsoincludes press and associated mailroomequipment.

Mr Bowdler, who steps down as JohnstonPress chief executive in January, said the

company was delighted to have made theinvestment. “We are really pleased with thenew press and it has settled in very well. It isgreat for this market and is giving us colourand capability which we didn’t have before.“Our experience of doing business in

Northern Ireland is a very positive one – wehave some fantastic titles, including theNews Letter.“We will look at upgrading systems and at

investing in our digital operations and possi-bly new newspaper titles or reinvesting inexisting titles.“But, importantly, print will always remain

at the heart of the business. A newspaper isfundamentally part of the community – wewill continue to develop digital channels butnewspapers will remain central to the mix ofJohnston Press.’

‘Delight’ with investment

Irish public". The price was fourpence.The primary principles of theNews Letter then were:- Loyalty to the Throne;- Devotion to the religion of

the Bible;- Unswerving attachment to the

Protestant constitution of theselands.The first pictures in the News

Letter appeared in the coverage ofthe State funeral for the Duke ofWellington in 1852. Readersreceived a pictorial inset, illustrat-ing the "great funereal pageant, ofyesterday se'nnight".

The inset consisted of a series ofwood cuts, printed on a sheetmuch larger than the News Letteritself. This was the first issue ofpictures by an Ulster newspaper.

In 1854, the News Letter hadgrown to 32 columns and the firstLondon correspondent wasappointed in 1858. At this time(January 1861), the paper movedpremises to Donegall Street and,for the next 140 years, the NewsLetter was published from thisthoroughfare.

James Alexander Hendersondied in 1883 and the managementof the paper passed to his eldestson (late Sir James Henderson).He was a barrister with a soundknowledge of the newspaperindustry, acquired from a spellwith the Newry Telegraph.

When Sir James took over theold method of type setting was stillin vogue. Each letter was taken byhand from the "case" and pouredseparately into the compositors'stick.

Henderson was keenly interest-ed in the attempts to improvehand-setting and he installed fourThorne type-setting machines inthe compositing room. TheThorne was activated by means ofkeys, the keyboard being much thesame as that of the modernLineotype, and the type was set inlong lines, which were divided andspaced by another operator.

The Linotype composingmachines, which succeeded theThornes, required only a singleoperator, who manipulated a key-board similar to that of a type-writer. Completed lines were cast

and ejectedfrom theLinotype inmethodicalorder andwith greatrapidity.

TheNewsLetter's firstLinotypemachineswere deliv-ered onSeptember16, 1893and werethe first oftheir kindinstalled inany Irishnewspaperoffice.

ThemodernWeb offsetpresses forprintingnewspaperslike theNewsLetter cameinto voguein the 1950sand early1960s, withthe proges-sion of modern technology, suc-ceeding the traditional Stereo-typepresses which had been opera-tional from the 19th century.

The Ramage press, used fromthe early 18th century when theNews Letter was established, wasconstructed almost entirely out ofwood, although iron was subse-quently used in many of its parts.

In the early part of the 19thcentury, Earl Stanhope invented apress made entirely of iron, withthe frame cast in a singlepiece.The power was applied by acombination toggle joint and lever.

The Columbian Press wasinvented in Philadelphia in 1817,with power applied by a commandlever. There followed in 1829, theWashingtom press of Samuel Rustand, in this period, the firstattempt to make a rotary pressfacilitated the type being movedhorizontally to print 1,800 impres-

sions an hour.The first major step towards

facilitating the rapid and cheapproduction of the modern newspa-per was made by Robert Hoe inNew York in 1840 when the first ofthe type-revolving presses werebuilt.

The Applegath machine wasbrought into practical use inEngland and was first employed bythe London Times in 1844. In thismachine, the type-holding cylinderrevolved in a vertical axis and itcould print 12,000 single sheets onone side in an hour.

Still faster work was needed,however, to meet the enormousincrease in the public demand fornewspapers.

The manufacture of stereotypeplates needed to churn out thepapers at a more rapid pace datesback to 1860 through the emer-gence of a steam bed to dry a

novel style of paper mache matrixor mould, which could be conve-niently used for making stereotypereproductions of the type pages inthe form of plates to fit around thecylinders.

By 1896, one of these platescould be made in seven minutes.This made possible the "perfect-ing" press, with both sides of thepaper printing as it passed throughthe press. By then, a press couldprint, fold and count up to 100,000completed eight-page newspapersper hour, or up to 50,000 16-pagepapers.

It was in this gradual progres-sion of newspaper printing that theBelfast News Letter movedthrough the decades, the paper,totally up to speed with develop-ments, maintaining its status as aforemost organ of news on theseislands, and in Europe.

The News Letter throughout its long history has published somemajor news scoops - none bigger than the revelation in 1776 that

America had been declared independent of British rule.The paper was heavily involved in publicising the emigration trek to

America by Ulster Presbyterians, featuring daily advertisements with timesthe ships were leaving the ports of Belfast, Larne, Londonderry, Newry

and Portrush and the fares charged.In August 1776, the News Letter reported exclusively on this side of the

Atlantic on the American Declaration of Independence of July 4.The ship carrying the first copy of the Declaration was bound for

London, but it ran into heavy storms off the north coast of Donegal andwas forced to seek refuge in the port of Londonderry.

Arrangements were made for the Declaration to be sent by fast horse toBelfast, where it would be passed to another ship for delivery to King

George the Third in London.The News Letter editor gained access to the document and printed the

complete text on the front page of the paper on August 23-27.The News Letter, being a radical Presbyterian organ, was enthusiastically

in support of the colonists in America, championing their patriot cause forindependence.

Earlier, in April 1739, the News Letter covered the trial and the execu-tion at York of notorious highwayman Dick Turpin.

Other major events which the News Letter covered in detail its pageswere the French Revolution, the '98 United Irish rebellion, the signing of

the Act of Union in Britain, the Crimean and Boer Wars, Queen Victoria'sGolden Jubilee Year in 1887 (the News Letter's own 150th anniversary

year), launch of the Titanic and its sinking, the Irish Home Rule debate,the creation of Northern Ireland as a state in 1921, two World Wars (1914-

19 and 1939-45) and the Northern Ireland Troubles dating from 1969 tothe mid-1990s.

The News Letter has an illus-trious history which far sur-passes all of its newspaper

rivals on these islands.The oldest continuously pub-

lished daily newspaper in theEnglish-speaking world dates backto September 1737 to the 'Sign ofthe Peacock' premises at BridgeStreet in Belfast and, over a periodof 271 years, it has provided cover-age on the great global and localnews stories of the period.

News Letter founder FrancisJoy was joined in the venture bytwo sons Henry and Robert and,from humble beginnings, the news-paper became an important vehi-cle for news through the 18th,19th, 20th centuries until the pres-ent day.

The News Letter and GeneralAdvertiser began as a single sheetof paper, 15 inches long and nineinches wide, and it was printed inthree columns on each side. Itappeared twice a week onTuesdays and Thursdays.

The Bridge Street printingpremises were occupied for 21years, before the move to nearbyHigh Street and in 1759 the sub-title of General Advertiser wasdropped.In those early years when theNews Letter made its appearance,many people in rural districtswhere it circulated were unable toread and those anxious for newsassembled on certain evenings tohear the district school master givea public reading.

This taught ordinary peo-

ple the necessity of education,night schools were formed, andgrown men went through all stagesof the alphabet, spelling and read-ing until they learned to maketheir way through the columns ofthe News Letter.

The annual subscription for theNews Letter was ten shillings andfour pence Irish money, or aboutfour shillings English currency. In1747, the paper was printed byHenry and Robert Joy, on papermanufactured by Francis Joy at hissmall factory in Randalstown.

Belfast at the time was a townof about 7,000 inhabitants, withPresbyterians having a dominantinfluence, and the population ofUlster was, for the most part,rural-based with the other maintowns Londonderry, Carrickfergus,Bangor, Antrim, Newtownards,Lisburn and Newry.

Francis Joy was 40 when hefounded the News Letter. Hisancestor Captain Thomas Joyaccompanied Sir ArthurChichester to Ireland in the 17thcentury migration, settling in CoAntrim and founding the Belfastbranch of the family.

The last member of the Joy fam-ily to be actively engaged in pro-ducing the News Letter was HenryJoy, son of Robert Joy and grand-son of the founder. He becameproprietor in 1789.

Henry Joy Jnr. was an enthusias-tic member of the Irish Volunteersand the News Letter supportedagitation for the abolition of the

restrictions on Irish

trade and for therepeal of Poyning'sLaw, under whichthe Irish Parliamentcould not legislatewithout the sanc-tion of the Kingand Council inEngland.

Ownership ofthe News Letterchanged in 1795to an Edinburghcompany, consist-ing of directorsRobert Allan,George Gordon,Ebenezar Black,James Blair andAlexanderMackay Snr.

During thisperiod the cir-culation hadrisen from2,100 copies inJanuary 1,1789 to 3,225on July 4,1794. Theprice was two-and-a-halfpence, butcopies werepassed fromhand tohand, insome casesuntil theywere in tat-ters. It was calculatedthat each paper was read by sixpersons, quite a high ratio.

In 1804, Alexander Mackaybecame sole News Letter ownerand a family link with the MackaysandHendersons continued until 1991,with Captain OWJ (Bill)Henderson the last chairman fromthat ownership.

English weekly publishing con-sortium Tindale Press purchasedthe Century Newspapers (NewsLetter) group in 1991 and theywere succeeded by Mirror GroupNewspapers in the late 1990s. in2003, the newspaper was pur-chaseed by 3i venture capitalistsand in 2005 ownership moved toJohnston Press plc.

The Hendersons assumed con-trol in 1844 after Alexander

Mackay's death. JamesHenderson (1797-1863), propri-etor of the Newry Telegraph, was aclose friend and adviser of theMackey family and had been onthe News Letter staff.

The widow and two daughtersof Alexander Mackey turned toJames Henderson for advice andon April 11, 1845 when he recom-mended the appointment of hisson James Alexander, aged 21, theHenderson dynasty in the NewsLetter began.By the end of 1846, Hendersonhad purchased "a new and elaganttype" and, in 1851, the number ofeditions was increased from two tothree (Monday, Wednesday andFriday). The paper's size was 28columns and the sheet was "aslarge as any hitherto offered to the

BILLY KENNEDY charts the illustrious271-year history of the NEWS LETTER from humble

origins in Bridge Street, Belfast and traces thechanges in newspaper printing methods since 1737

THE Dromore Leader was founded in 1916at Bridge Street in the town by JosephLindsay, who had served his apprenticeship

in the old Dromore Weekly Times, itself estab-lished 16 years earlier, at the turn of the 20thCentury, by barrister R. J. Hunter.

Mr Lindsay was later joined in the new businessby his brother William.There followed in time a move to Market Square,

and the premises now occupied by Graham’sNewsagents, then another to what was Mooney’sPub, on the corner of Princes Street, which was to

be home to The Leader for many years; now a pubonce more.

Following the death of the Lindsay brothers thenew man at the helm was the late Vivian Brown, aWelshman who, while he was stationed inDromore with the Royal Army Medical Corps inthe early 1940s, met and married Joseph Lindsay’sniece, Amy Silcock.

In the early 1950s Mr. Brown was to become thehands-on owner of The Leader, later selling thetitle to the Hawthorne family, publishers of theMourne Observer, which had by then incorporated

the Dromore Weekly Times.Responsibility for the Leader fell first to Will

Hawthorne and, following his sudden death, to hiswidow Mary Hawthorne; by this time The Leaderoperated a satellite office in neighbouring Lisburn.

In September 1992 Mrs Hawthorne sold TheLeader to Morton Newspapers Ltd., who closedthe Lisburn office in favour of a new office inBanbridge.So was born the Banbridge Leader, still operating,

though now as the parent office, from the samepremises in Bridge Street.

Recent years have seen The Leader, and indeedMorton Newspapers Ltd., pass first into the owner-ship of Scottish Radio Holdings and more recentlyinto the ownership of Johnston Press.

AS in past years, 2008 has been a year ofsubstantial change for the Ballymena andAntrim Times.

Responding to our readership, we're maintainingour format in a handy compact size, continuing toboost overall pagination and, through the newpress, have introduced much more high qualitycolour.

Our parent company, Johnston Press, has evenmore investment plans in the pipeline in keepingwith their ethos as one of the pioneers of printmedia excellence, not least the recent expansionof the printing facilities.Newspapers have changed substantially since the

Ballymena Observer - the ancestor publication oftoday's Ballymena and Antrim Times - firstappeared way back in 1855.

However, while layout and design may havealtered, the central aim of this local weekly news-paper remains largely the same - to strive toreport as widely as possible on the mid-Antrimarea, bringing you the very latest 'hard' news, awealth of interesting feature stories and a myriadof photographs, all on a weekly basis.

Down through the years, the journalists whowork for us have reported the triumphs andtragedies of the area, the ending of eras and thecommencement of new ones.And, our photographers have captured thosesame stories expertly on film.

We’re always trying to improve that service,

both in the fields of advertising and editorial andto that end have created our own website atwww.ballymenatimes.com featuring the latestbreaking news, features, photo gallery, and videosfilmed and produced specially for the site by ourown reporting team.

The growing number of hits received by thewebsite is firm evidence that you appreciate theavailability of our content via the latest technolo-gy and is proof that it works well in tandem withthe more traditional delivery in 'paper' form.

We've been part of the local scene in this cornerof County Antrim for almost 150 years and withincreasing pagination, improved colour and ultramodern production methods, not to mention theprovision of our services on the web, we are con-fident that our product can only get better.

COOKSTOWN brothers John and HenryGlasgow came up with the idea of publish-ing a weekly newspaper back in 1891. At

that time the pair were involved in the printingtrade and ran a family seed merchant business atWilliam Street in the town centre.

As Cookstown was the geographical centre ofUlster they aptly named their new publication‘The Mid-Ulster Mail’.During the early years the 'Mid' as it became

known, contained from four to eight pages. Theprinting was done on a hand-fed printing pressand the newspaper was distributed throughoutEast Tyrone and South Derry.

In those days the paper was on sale on Fridaysrather than Thursdays as today.

In the 1950s a printing press was purchased,

enabling the size of the paper to be increased to18 pages. Shortly afterwards the 'Mid' took whatwas then considered in newspaper circles, thevery daring step of introducing front page news.Up until then the front page had been taken upby advertisements.

Despite reservations by some readers over theswitch, the paper went ahead and published newsstories on the front page in 1957.

1975 saw another radical change. The introduc-tion of modern typesetting equipment speeded upthe page make-up process, making productionmore efficient.This preceded the launch of the paper in tabloid

(Euro) form in 1978 and the move was warmlywelcomed by readers.

In November 1990 the 'Mid' was purchased byMorton Newspapers, Northern Ireland's largestweekly newspaper publisher.

Journalists now work from day to day on com-puters as well as designing and laying out pages,

while digital cameras are used by the photogra-phers. More changes followed when JohnstonPress bought over the Morton Newspapers groupin 2006 - and they brought with them the dawningof a new technological age by installing a com-pletely new system for make-up and page produc-tion as well as reducing the size of the paper tothe universally recognised tabloid form towardsthe end of 2006.

The biggest change in recent months has in on-line journalism with a brand new website keepingreaders (now also users) up to date with bothlocal and national news as it happens.

The history of the 'Mid' has always been one ofprogression.The 21st century will undoubtedly bring many

more changes to newspaper production - as it hasdone already - but readers are assured the 'Mid'will continue to be in the vanguard of change as aquick skip onto the website at www.midulster-mail.co.uk will testify.

SafetykleenIreland LimitedUnit 5,Airton Road,Tallaght, Dublin 24

Tel:(01) 4518800, Fax:(01) 4518706Email:jmurrells@sk-europe.comwww: sk-europe.com Mobile 0863813760

We are pleased to be associatedwith Johnston Publising (NI)

PROJECT & BIDMANAGERS

2M Associates Limited weredelighted to have beenentrusted with the ProjectManagement of the New

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Mid-Ulster Mail95p52 Oldtown Street, Cookstown Tel: 028 8676 2288 www.midulstermail.co.uk

The Ulster Star first appeared onLisburn’s news stands in 1957. It wasconsidered revolutionary as the first

tabloid newspaper competing with two longestablished broadsheets – the Lisburn Heraldand the Lisburn Standard.

They both closed soon afterwards and it wasleft to the Star to chronicle the growth ofLisburn from quiet market town to thrivingcommercial centre.

The paper was at the forefront of the cam-paign for Lisburn to become a borough, which

succeeded in 1963.And then for city status, which was granted in

2002 to mark the Queen's Golden Jubilee.In the 1980s a free sister title, the Lisburn

Echo, was successfully launched.Today the two papers are complemented by a

very successful website lisburntoday.co.ukwhich continues to grow.

12a Bow Street, Lisburnwww.lisburntoday.co.uk

Tel: 9267 9111news@ulsterstar.co.uk

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THE Ballymoney Times was launched in thespring of 1989 as an edition of theBallymena Times.

Based initially in upper Church Street,Ballymoney, the paper was under the Editorshipof Lyle McMullan who worked with a small teamabove the premises occupied by Hale and Sons,Insurance Brokers.With a strong emphasis on community issues, thepaper quickly became a firm favourite with thou-sands throughout the Borough.

Much of the editorial theme - pictorially - centredon functions not normally covered such as countryhall dances, birthday parties, charity-based eventsetc., while also ensuring that a platform was pro-vided for those organisations and bodies keen tocatch the public's attention.The paper also adopted a robust stance on social

issues including helping people challenge authori-ties on such matters as housing, consumer affairsand politicial matters. It framed an approach thatstill exists today. The Times enjoys a close work-ing relationship with schools which is consideredan important aspect of encouraging today's youngpeople to become the readers of tomorrow.

Some four years ago, the Times adjusted its mast-head to incorporate the Moyle region which alsoformed a key element of the paper's targeted cir-culation area.From a marketing point of view this was an obvi-ous choice, but the more important aspect wasthat it enabled readers in that area to form a morepositive ownership with the paper. In 1999, theTimes moved to its present location, also inChurch Street, but with a more central location inrelation to the town centre.The paper's popularity can be gauged by healthysales and strong support from all sections of thecommunity.

The Tyrone Times and DungannonGazette was first published on April 22,1994, under the editorship of the late

Lindsay Kilpatrick.In the foreword of the first issue he wrote:

“The Tyrone Times is here to serve the entirecommunity and our aim is to accurately reflectwhat is happening in the area, fight the causesand air your view.”Those principles remain with the Tyrone Times

to this very day and will continue for the manyweeks, months, years and decades to come.

Our journalists are locally based which meansthat they have their finger on the pulse twentyfour hours of a day, seven days a week.Figures in 2008 show that the Tyrone Times is

one of the fastest growing weekly newspapers inNorthern Ireland. We reach out to a weeklyaudience which covers all of Tyrone, from theLoughshore to Trillick and beyond.In the last six months we launched our very

own ‘Island Times’ covering all parts East of thecounty.Our website, www.tyronetimes.co.uk, has been

a huge success and last year received over 1mil-lion hits. Tuesday wouldn’t be Tuesday anymorewithout a copy of the Tyrone Times.

The Londonderry Sentinel was founded in1829 at a time when the issue of Catholicemancipation was a hotly debated sub-

ject.Originally titled the Londonderry Sentinel andNorth West Advertiser, the paper’s first editionwas published on September 19, 1829 at theprice of 5d (five old pence).

It was founded by a group that includedWilliam Wallen, who had edited what was thenknown as the Londonderry Journal andGeneral Advertiser – later becoming the DerryJournal. Wallen quit over the moderate politicalstance of the Journal on Catholic emancipation.The new paper was designed to advocateProtestant and Conservative principles.To this day, it remains a voice of Conservative

unionism in the city, but has moved from itsbase in the city centre - where the unionist pop-ulation shrank during the Troubles - to offices

in the Waterside. When first launched, theSentinel was published on a Saturday, but hasalso been published on Tuesday and Thursdayat various times, and is now published onWednesdays.

The Sentinel currently also has an editioncovering the borough of Limavady – the RoeValley Sentinel.Its scoops over the years included the fact that

it was the first newspaper anywhere in theworld to reveal that the USSR had developedan atomic bomb.

Tel: 028 2766 6216 95pballymoneytimes@jpress.co.uk

6 Church Street,Ballymoney

www.ballymoneytimes.com

Suite 4&5 Spencer House, Waterside, Londonderry T: 028 7134 8889 F: 028 7134 4763 www.londonderrysentinel.co.uk

90p(€1.50)Es

t.18

29

THE Times Series has been reporting on thenews in east Antrim for more than 100 years- since 1891 in fact.

However, the original roots of the Larne Timesand its sister newspapers the Carrick andNewtownabbey Times can be traced right back tothe 1860s.The history of the newspapers goes back to thetime of William and George Baird, the founders ofthe famous Ulster firm W and G Baird, estab-lished on November 1, 1861. The brothers wereemployed by the Ulster Printing Company whichowned the Belfast Daily Mercury, a paper priced

at one and a half old pence and which ceased toexist in 1861, and had at the time, practically allthe large contracts for printing in Ulster.For a considerable time, the Bairds had contem-plated establishing an evening newspaper inBelfast and - inspired by the dream to be the firstto bring out a halfpenny Belfast evening paper.And so, the Belfast Evening Telegraph was thefirst halfpenny daily newspaper published inIreland. Its rival, the Evening Press, didn’t appearfor another five days and only lasted two years.The Belfast Evening Telegraph was an immediatesuccess and the machinery was totally inadequate

to keep up with the daily demand. The Bairdswent to London, bought new presses and thefuture of the paper was secured. The companywent from strength to strength and on February28, 1873, the now defunct Belfast WeeklyTelegraph appeared.

The Ballymena Weekly Telegraph, now theBallymena Times, first appeared on August 6,1887 and the Bairds’ stable of titles continued toexpand and on May 9, 1891, the Larne Times wasborn.

The Baird family continued to own theTelegraph and its associated papers until the 1960swhen they were bought by Roy Thomson and theTelegraph became part of the empire he founded.

The Larne, Carrick and Newtownabbey Timesceased to be part of the Thomson group inOctober 1986 when they were bought by MortonNewspapers Ltd. Mortons was in turn sold in 1995to Scottish Radio Holdings and now, since 2005,the papers have been part of Johnston Press plc.

PART OF LARNE FOR OVER 100 YEARS

8 Dunluce Street, Larne Tel: 028 2827 2303 19 North Street, Carrickfergus Tel: 028 9335 1992

CARRICK

14 Portland Avenue, Glengormley Tel: 028 9084 3621

The Coleraine Times was estab-lished in February 1990 to servethe needs of a circulation area

encompassing the Coleraine borough -Coleraine, Portrush, Portstewart,Garvagh and Kilrea.Initially a Berliner-size weekly, comingout on a Wednesday, the paper wasdelivered free into homes.

The newspaper's base was New Rowin Coleraine and a small team ofreporters and advertising reps workedhard to establish the new title.By the mid-90s the paper went paid-forand introduced some colour.

It gained a reputation for excellentjournalism, community stories and com-prehensive entertainment, arts andsports coverage - twice winningNorthern Ireland Weekly Newspaper ofthe Year.David Rankin, an original member of

the founding team at the newspaper,took over from the first editor, JohnFillis, in the summer of 1998.

After Johnston Press purchasedMorton Newspapers, the owners of theColeraine Times, the paper moved to anew compact size in 2005, with morecolour pages being added.

In the past few years the newspaperhas developed its website, www.col-erainetimes.co.uk as part of a multi-plat-form publishing strategy.

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Wishing every success toJohnston Press (NI) on the

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INCORPORATING THE CRAIGAVON TIMES

4 High Street, Lurgan Tel: (028) 3832 7777 www.lurganmail.co.uk news@lurganmail.co.uk 90p

PortadownTimes14 Church Street, Portadown Tel: 028 3833 6111 www.portadowntimes.co.uk 95p

THE Lurgan Mail is one of the oldestestablished newspapers in Ireland. Itwas set up in 1890 and since then has

been keeping the people of Lurgan abreast ofall that has been happening in the area andbeyond.

The area covered by the paper has changeddramatically over the years.The established villages of Waringstown,Dollingstown, Donacloney and Maralin haveall flourished and expanded. There has alsobeen continuing expansion in other rural areaslike Aghagallon and around the lough shore.

In 1936 Morton Newspapers was establishedand the 'MAIL' was purchased by JohnMorton Snr.

His son James joined him in 1948 and thefollowing year the first of many sister papers,the Portadown Times, was brought into theMorton 'fold'.

The 'MAIL' takes great pride in serving thecommunity not only in Lurgan but in the sur-

rounding areas.Reports cover a wide range of activities from

hard news stories to features and some of thelighter moments in the community at large.On the sports front the 'MAIL' provides cover-age of a host of sports.

While justly proud of its past the 'MAIL' hasalso embraced new technology to providereaders with a view of life in Lurgan rightacross the world with our website on www.lur-ganmail.co.uk

Are pleased to be associatedwith Johnston Publising (NI)

Blackstaff Road,Kennedy Way Industrial Estate, Belfast

Tel: 028 9030 6759Email: info@wastebeaters.com

THE Portadown Times began its life in 1924in the town’s Carleton Street and was start-ed by W.H. Wolsey - later known as ‘The

Chiel’ for his long-running history column in thenewspaper.

At that stage, the newspaper was the poor rela-tion to the long-established Portadown News, andwas read mainly by church people and the elder-ly.

But when the entrepreneurial Jim Mortonbought it in 1956, to join his flagship LurganMail, things really started buzzing, and the read-ers sat up and took notice.

His first editor was David Capper - later withthe BBC - followed by Jim Irvine, and in the1960s, Mortons introduced web offset printing,being the first news group in Ireland to print infull colour, and the circulation war in Portadownwas on.

The Times overtook the News in the 1960s andcontinued to thrive under its new, dynamic youngeditor David Armstrong who was at the helm for40 years-plus until he retired last year.

He was succeeded by the present-day incum-bent Alistair Bushe, who is leading thePortadown Times forward into the new age oftechnology.

In the early 1970s, such was the Times superi-ority in the circulation stakes that Mortons

bought over the News and ran both papers (onemidweek the other weekend) for a while beforethe Times finally became Portadown’s mainnewspaper.

The rest, of course, is history, with Jim Mortondeveloping the company to today’s ‘stable’ of 22newspapers, everywhere from Londonderry toLarne, Dungannon to Coleraine, with ScottishRadio Holdings taking over from Jim’s son John,and then it went into the ownership of JohnstonPress.

Along the way, the Portadown Times picked upa plethora of awards, ranging from lay-out tojournalism, photography to advertising, placing itup there among the brightest and best on theisland of Ireland.

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Weekly titles continue long traditions

Portadown Times editor,Alistair Bushe