Friends and colleagues have said farewell to John Robertson, who has retired from his role as deputy chairman of Newbury Weekly News (Printers) Ltd and its parent company Blacket Turner & Co Ltd.

A former president of the Newspaper Society, he officially stepped down from the role on Tuesday.

To mark his retirement a lunch was held at Newspaper House, where guests included Tim Bowdler, chief executive of Johnston Press; Sir Nicholas Hewitt, Bt, chairman and chief executive of the Barnsley Chronicle Ltd and Edwin Boorman, chairman of the Kent Messenger Group.

John (front left) with his wife Diana, Jeremy Willis and fellow guests

John joined the group as managing director of the newspaper company in 1985, and became chairman of Newbury Weekly News (Printers) Ltd and group managing director of Blacket Turner in 1997, moving to a non-executive directors role in July 2002.

A chartered secretary with a background in newspaper management, he had previously worked for the East Anglian Daily Times, EMAP and the Windsor & Slough Express.

He will remain on the board of Newbury Weekly News (Printers) Ltd as a non-executive director.

Other guests included Sir Ray Tindle, chairman of Tindle Newspapers; David Newell, director of the Newspaper Society; Ian Ashcroft, chief executive of Guardian Media Group plc, and Charles Brims, past president of the Newspaper Society and non-executive director of Blacket Turner & Co Ltd, along with Newbury Weekly News (Printers) Ltd chairman Jeremy Willis, managing director Adrian Martin and finance director Terry Hillman.