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:

Tavistock’s historic Guide Hall being under threat if volunteers are not found to join the girlguiding committee; the Mount Kelly rugby team and Tidy Tavi volunteers getting together to clear the town of litter; appeals by the police and Dartmoor livestock protection officer urging people to keep their dogs under control as sheep attacks soar on Dartmoor; the North Dartmoor Search and Rescue Group, in Okehampton, make a dream come true for a disabled man by taking him to the top of Belstone Tor and the mayor of West Devon pledges to help farmers in crisis.

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 brought you the story of a Yelverton family aiming to raise £30,000 to help give their miracle child who was born with a chromosonal disorder a safe haven and efforts by local women to complete half marathon and marathon walks to help dementia charities in memory of lost loved ones; and as we came out of the restrictions imposed by Covid-19 we brought you events from the Okehampton Rotary Club Fair to duck races and summer fetes.

Serving this area since 1857, 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 Tavistock and Okehampton Times titles, holding our community together.

Alison Stephenson

Editor