A number of newspapers from Wales and the Westcountry are the latest due to be microfilmed next month to preserve them for the future.

The process is part of a long-term initiative to save them for the nation under the Newsplan project, which aims to protect an important historical record.

Old newspapers from Bristol, Cardiff, Bridgwater, Rhyl, Monmouth, Somerset, Swansea, Wrexham and Tenby will be microfilmed in Bristol and at the British Library Newspaper Library.

They include copies of the Bridgwater Independent from 1885, and the Bristol Gazette dating from 1767.

Other titles include the Cardiff News and the Cardiff Times, both from the mid 1800s, the Wrexhamite and associated titles between 1855 and 1867, and Bristol Mirror, between 1808 and 1864.

The project has come about thanks to a partnership between the Lottery Heritage Fund, the newspaper industry itself and libraries across the UK, which hold many of the original newspaper copies.

They need preserving because the paper they are printed on can react with the atmosphere to cause acidification, which rots the newspaper.

Eventually, more than 1,600 of the country's most fragile newspaper titles will have been saved.

The microfilm not only has a life of at least 500 years - but will open up the archive to the public across the whole of the UK through public libraries.

More details on the project can be seen at the website at www.newsplan2000.org.

Do you have a story about the regional press? Ring 0116 227 3122/3121, or
e-mail pastill@nep.co.uk