Martin Purdy has been appointed editor of the Oldham Advertiser.

He has been deputy editor of the Guardian Media Group title for the past three years, and succeeds David Lafferty who is now editor of sister paper the Macclesfield Express.

Martin (pictured) helped relaunch the free Oldham Advertiser shortly after joining, doubling its size and giving it the look and feel of a paid-for newspaper.

He told HoldtheFrontPage: "The big attraction to the job is the quality of the staff here. We have a very young team - and I am by far the veteran at 39 - but there is so much enthusiasm.

"It's not a new job for me in the respect of keeping up the good work that has been achieved so far.

"We have a healthy mix of grassroots community news and hard invesigative journalism and are in competition with the Oldham Chronicle and have to be at the top of our game. I'm satisfied that we are doing that and that things will get better."

But Martin is planning to make his mark, with changes to content such as more entertainment and historical features, with the aim of making the Advertiser not just a newspaper but a "complete package".

He is also hoping to forge a closer relationship with the paper's website.

He said: "The Advertiser has established itself as a paper and now I will be aiming for more cross-pollination, with the paper becoming more of a brand."

Martin had previously worked as a sub-editor for the Daily Express and Daily Star, as well as working for the Oldham Evening Chronicle and the Bury Times and Bolton Evening News.

His first job in newspapers was at Eddie Shah's Messenger Group, and he later became deputy editor of the Middleton Guardian and Heywood Advertiser.

He is also a classicly-trained pianist and has played in several bands, touring the UK and Europe, and it is music that first led him into journalism as he launched and co-owned Buzzin', a free music and entertainment paper for the North West.