Midlands editor Diane Chalmers is to leave the Hinckley Times after almost four years in the hot seat.

Diane, who will be 49 next week, will leave the paper on June 7 after seeing through Hinckley’s jubilee celebrations, which she has been heavily involved in as chairman of the Hinckley Golden Jubilee Committee.

She then plans to set up her own small business in design consultancy.

Originally from Worksop, Diane (right) began her journalism career on her local newspaper the Guardian, in 1970.

After leaving journalism briefly to work in PR, she joined the Morning Telegraph in Sheffield.

It was there that she began work as a sub-editor and soon found that she enjoyed the design and layout aspect of working on a newspaper.

After getting married in 1980, Diane moved to Coventry where she spent the next 18 years on the Evening Telegraph in various subbing and design roles, including design editor.

In 1998 Diane joined the Hinckley Times in what was intended to be a temporary move, but has stayed there for the past four years.

Diane said: “I never wanted to be an editor, but it was Dan Mason who gave me the chance and I will always be grateful. I love the freedom that you have – you stand or fall by your decisions.”

Under Diane’s editorship the Hinckley Times has become more community focused and enjoyed a steady increase in sales.

She said: “The paper is there for readers and reflects their concerns. We don’t just report, but we help where we can.

“We’ve had a lot of running stories which concern a lot of people, for example the borough council’s proposed Morrisons development, which has really engaged the readers.

“The council didn’t ask the electorate their opinions, so we decided to do a survey instead. A 6,000 signature petition lobbying against proposals has also gone to the Government.

“Last year we only recorded one week of sales more than 18,000, but so far this year there have been 10 weeks where sales have been more than 18,000.”

The paper has also won a number of awards in the past four years – most notably the 1999 BT UK Regional Weekly Newspaper of the Year award.

“Winning the BT award was a fantastic high spot,” said Diane.

“I’m going to miss the team spirit we have here. We all work with each other, for each other.

“I’m leaving on a high and I hope that the paper continues to go from strength to strength.”