Former Westcountry editor Ian Beales is at the helm of a new project, editing a magazine for the Commonwealth Press Union, the association of Commonwealth newspapers.

Ian, (61), left the Western Daily Press in 2001 after 34 years at the paper – 20 of which were as editor – and he has spoken of his new “baby” and the similarities between the two roles.

He has been a member of the CPU executive for the past three years, and also works with it on self-regulation and legal issues.

As part of this role he has travelled to countries such as Sri Lanka and Samoa to advise on and help write codes of practice for the media, and last year he also helped to redesign two national newspapers in Nairobi, Kenya.

CPQ is a new quarterly, full-colour, glossy magazine with news and views on the industry across the Commonwealth.

It replaces CPU News, which was published on newsprint in a tabloid format six times a year, and is distributed to 5,000 editors and other senior news staff.

Ian told HoldtheFrontPage: “CPQ has a news magazine feel and there is 50 per cent more editorial.

“We needed to have something that has a greater shelf-life and this is printed on good-quality paper so it will last.

“It is an exciting project because there is such a broad canvass.”

He is also secretary of the Editors’ Code Committee, which writes the code of practice that the Press Complaints Commission administers, and has been on the committee since it was founded in 1990.

Ian, who lives in Gloucestershire, said: “The WDP was my life for 34 years, 20 as editor, and it was an absolute privilege to do the job, it is a wonderful paper and a wonderful area.

“But I wanted to do other things while I still had my own teeth – my friends used to joke that I would hardly take a holiday and when I did I wouldn’t go further than the office.

“In a sense my life is now very different, but to be honest so much is the same.

“Working with the CPU you find at every organisation journalists are inclined to be the same people – whether you are in a bar in Colombo or Barbados, their complaints are very similar and their thrills about journalism are the same.

“The WDP was my baby for a long time and now I’ve got another baby. It is smaller and doesn’t come out every day, but it is still my baby.”