Former weekly newspaper journalists met to celebrate 20 years since the foundation of their old title.

The Harrow Times has marked two decades since it first went to print, after being set up by Newsquest in competition with the Harrow Observer.

The free newspaper’s first editor was Charlie Harris, the former editor of the Borehamwood And Elstree Times, although the very first edition was sub-edited and designed by Newsquest’s North London deputy group editor John Killeen.

The anniversary was marked last month with a meeting of former Times journalists including former chief reporter Anna Slater, former chief photographer Peter Beal and James Bond, a reporter and feature writer who is now an Independent councillor for Harrow North.

Former Harrow Times journalists meet to mark the newspaper’s 20th anniversary

A piece on the anniversary on the website of the Times reads: “Over the years, The Harrow Times has reached almost 50,000 people in the north-west borough and some of the top stories have included a protest in 2014 from the Somali community against the adoption of a child by a lesbian couple, which was read more than 5,000 times in total.

“The most read story of 2012 reached an impressive 6,022 readers after appeal was launched in July to help trace a man who subjected an American bulldog to ‘blatant animal cruelty’.

“RSPCA inspectors said the ‘extreme’ abuse caused the pet to die, minutes after being sold to a new owner who had arranged to collect the dog.

“Later in the year, The Happy at Home survey, conducted by online property firm Rightmove, rated the borough in the bottom ten of the worst places to live. However, shoppers in Harrow town centre disagreed and the paper was filled with praise and support for the ‘friendly’ borough.”