Staff at the Welwyn & Hatfield Times are celebrating the newspaper's 75th anniversary.

To mark the occasion the weekly paper, which is published by Archant, has produced a special supplement which looks back at how the paper - and the area it serves - has changed.

It also includes tributes from former members of staff, recalling their time with the newspaper.

Times staff also held a glittering ball to mark the special milestone, and help raise money for local charity the Willow Foundation, which provides 'special days' for seriously ill young adults aged 16 to 40.

Readers and advertisers gathered for the event at Brocket Hall Golf Club, where guests of honour were Willow Foundation founders Bob and Megs Wilson.

During the evening an auction and raffle helped to raise around £6,000 for the charity, and editor Terry Mitchinson gave a special thanks to local businesses who had donated prizes.

He said: "The Welwyn & Hatfield Times has been an important part of the community for over seven decades.

"But one of our proudest achievements has been our involvement with the Willow Foundation from its very beginning. It is, therefore, fitting that we should be raising money for this very worthy cause."

Garry Matthews, regional managing director, Archant Hertfordshire and North London, said: "It was a superb evening in honour of a great newspaper.

"The Welwyn & Hatfield Times now consistently runs 200 pages plus per week and has almost doubled its circulation in the last 14 years and it is thanks to our staff that we have made the title the enduring success that it is."

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