Veteran Herts Advertiser journalist Beryl Carrington has died – ending a link to the paper which went back more than 100 years.

Her father was a former editor of the paper, joining in 1896 as chief reporter before taking charge.

Beryl joined the reporting staff at the age of 16, becoming one of the first women journalists to be employed at the newspaper. Her older brother also worked there before joining the Press Association.

Pic with thanks to the Herts Advertiser

Beryl, who was 86, and was born and bred in St Albans, continued to work for the Herts Advertiser for nearly 70 years before finally retiring last year.

She worked under eight of the paper’s editors and in 1995 was awarded an MBE for services to journalism.

Current editor Noel Cantillon, who worked with Beryl for 30 years, said: “Beryl had continued to work for us on a part-time basis until last year and was always on the end of the phone.

“The paper will be 150 this summer and Beryl had been helping us gather background material.

“She was a mine of information and knew everybody. She was invaluable to the paper.”