AddThis SmartLayers

News in brief

Former Matlock Mercury editor Don hale will be pitting his wits against a range of celebrities as he faces the “queen of mean” Ann Robinson for a special edition of The Weakest Link on Thursday.
He will be playing for a £50,000 cash pot destined for charity.
Don, who fought to win justice for Stephen Downing, recently appeared on Yorkshire TV’s Man of the Year award programme and is due to feature on an Esther show about miscarriages of justice.


Ecng has declared itself the biggest publisher of county magazines in the UK – and it plans to get even bigger. It now has nine county titles from Lancashire and Yorkshire in the north to Essex and Somerset in the south.
But the Ecng Lifestyle division is building its business and aims to double the number of titles by 2006.


Rock legend Ian Gillan brought a touch of glamour to the East Coast media facility at Grimsby College when he popped in for an interview about Deep Purple’s UK tour, which kicked off in Grimsby last week. The local TV news service has the Grimsby Telegraph as a partner.


The former Evening Times building in Albion Street, Glasgow, has been sold for a seven-figure sum and will be turned into flats.
The Albion plant was originally home to the Scottish Daily Express and Evening Citizen in the 1930s before the Evening Times and Herald moved in during the early 1980s. They have now left for the SMG complex in Renfield Street.


Welwyn & Hatfield Times editor Terry Mitchinson walked 14 miles with more than 250 others to raise £122 for the Isabel Hospice. The event, organised by the Times in association with the local Rotary Club, was hailed a great success.


East Anglian Daily Times picture editor Paul Nixon chose a novel way of raising money for the Suffolk Hospices Appeal by lining up Ipswich Town FC players in front of the cameras to have photos taken with their fans. More than 300 supporters paid £5 each and £2,000 was raised, the total being matched by the company.


Do you have a story about the regional press? Ring 0116 227 3122/3121, or
e-mail [email protected]