This week we celebrate the unique way we focus on local life as part of Holding our Community together, our campaign to raise awareness launched last week.

This focuses on the impact made by your local newspaper every week.

The lives of people living locally are central to our news, with their highs and lows featured on our pages and on our website, just as we have reported on local events throughout our history.

Even when our community was disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic and accompanying lockdowns, we have stayed true to our aim of reporting on what matters to our community.

We hold a unique place in local life by reporting on the everyday stories which social media and other digital news providers do not document.

Continuing our approach of being the news brand of record, we feature the clubs, groups, teams and individuals who combine to make our community.

This includes local youth groups, junior sports teams, volunteers, civic organisations and community figureheads like our mayors.

Nobody, we believe, understands our community like your trusted local news brand, so we continue to feature the community work of our public services, the police, fire service, NHS and teaching staff, as well as all those who work for our local authorities to make a difference to our region.

Recently, we have brought you news such as members of local voluntary group Keep Abergavenny Tidy working tirelessly throughout the pandemic to keep our streets and parks litter free.

The litter-pickers were subseququently rewarded for their efforts this year, with members of the local community coming together to raise £1,000 for the volunteers thanks to a community raffle organised by local residents that included prizes such as rounds of golf and a British and Irish Lions jersey signed by Wales and Lions star Taulupe Faletau.

Following the news in June that Abergavenny Women’s team would be dropped from the Welsh Women’s Premier League as part of a league shake-up despite finishing fourth in the league, our reporter Nick Hartland helped highlight the issue running several stories promting the team’s cause as they looked to overturn the decision. As it stands no decision to reinstate the team has been announced, but we will continue to highlight and report the issue as they continue their fight to be reinstated.

There were also stories of volunteers from the Angel Hotel and other local businesses delivering meals to people’s door steps during the pandemic, efforts that were appreciated and rewarded by Abergavenny Town Council who handed out awards to these people to acknowledge their help for both NHS staff and local residents.

We see it as our responsibility to bring you the human-interest stories which may not make the headlines outside our town or region but mean a great deal to the people living here.

In recent times we have included stories such as popular newsagent Paul Cable keeping everyone smiling and rasing funds by drawing murals outside his store on Frogmore Street. Paul produced murals of NHS hero Sir Tom Moore and Dame Vera Lynn which attracted many visitors and helped raise vital funds for local charities. He also raised further funds by getting people to sponsor a section of his shop window which he would paint on with different themes for the different times of year.

There have also been a number of wonderful fundraising stories such as the PTA mums of Our Lady and St Michael’s Primary School raising over £4,000 to fund a new outdoor play area at the school by completing the South Wales Three Peaks challenge, or the Monmoutshire cyclists who raised over £10,000 for Birmingham Children’s Hospital and Parkinson’s UK by cycling from Lands End to John O’ Groats in thirteen days, along with many, many more amazing stories of people raising thousands of pounds for charities.

Serving this area since 1871, we believe nobody understands our community and shines a light on everyday life like us.

As part of the community, we hold a unique place in being able document your lives, giving encouragement to those who give back and a voice to those who need help.

While the printed newspaper is integral to our service, we can use our websites and other digital platforms to reach many more people, driving interest in the life in our community.

With our social media reach we are also able to engage with people far and wide about the work of people in our area.

The technology may change but our purpose remains the same. We want to celebrate the best of local life.

We hope you will continue to send in all the important news for our community to appear in your trusted weekly newspaper or on our website, as we play our part in the recovery from the pandemic.

Whether it is the latest fundraiser event for a good cause, a group of volunteers who have rolled their sleeves up to help or friends who want to place a memorial for a loved one now gone, we will continue to share your news.

Thank you for continuing to share your news through our newspapers, holding our community together.

Gina Robertson

Editor,

Abergavenny Chronicle