Phil Fleming has been appointed as the new editor of the Lancaster and Morecambe Citizen.

Currently group editor of the Wirral Globe and Messenger series, he will take up his new role on November 25.

Phil, (pictured), is returning to his roots, having been born and bred in Kendal.

He began his journalism career in 1969 as a trainee reporter at the Lancashire Evening Post, where he worked for 10 years before joining the Westmorland Gazette.

In 1982 he was appointed deputy editor of the Leamington Spa Courier before becoming editor of the Daventry Express later that year.

After three years in Daventry Phil moved back up North to launch the Macclesfield and Wilmslow Messengers, two new editions of the Newsquest-owned series of newspapers.

In 1989 he became editor of the series’ flagship title, the Sale and Altrincham Messenger and was made group editor of the series in 1997.

He has been group editor of the Wirral Globe and Messenger series for the past three years.

Replacing Phil at the Globe will be Leigh Marles who will join the series on December 2.

Leigh has considerable knowledge of the Wirral area and has spent the past four years working in television news.

He was station editor for Channel One and was previously editor of Trinity Mirror’s Liverpool Weekly Newspaper Group for five years.

In addition to Leigh’s appointment, Lynn Hughes, editor for the Sale and Altrincham and Stretford and Urmston Messengers will now be extending her commercial involvement within the Messenger group and will report directly to managing director Jane Longden.

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