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South coast editor to step down

Bridport & Lyme Regis News editor Margery Hookings is to step down from her role next month.

Margery, (42), is leaving the paper to take on the newly-created post of head of communications at North Dorset Primary Care Trust.

Her new role will see her job sharing and working three days a week, to allow her time to concentrate on other projects including a book and freelance work.

  • Picture by John Gurd
  • Margery (pictured) said: “I needed a new challenge and also more flexibility. I’ve been editor for five years and I think it’s time to let someone else take it on.

    “I like variety and enjoy getting out and meeting people. Hopefully the move will give me more scope for this and allow me to be more creative.”

    Margery first joined the News in 1982 after training with Mirror Group Newspapers in Plymouth, and since then has had various spells at the paper.

    She also spent time working on the Dorset Echo and as a public relations officer for a housing association, as well as working as a freelance and even running a pub.

    In 1998 she re-joined the News as chief reporter, and become the paper’s first female editor the following year.

    Over the past five years Margery has helped develop the paper’s role in the community, and has also enjoyed reporting on a series of quirky stories – including one about the paper itself when 10,000 copies of an issue went up in smoke after a delivery van caught fire during the firefighters’ strike.

    And despite plans to leave the paper, she will continue her association with it as she continues to write a book recalling people’s memories of the paper to mark its 150th anniversary.

    She will also continue with her voluntary work for Dorset Farm Radio, an Internet-based radio station for farmers and farming families, and hopes to develop the stories she uncovers for the printed media.

    Margery said: “I’m looking forward to the challenge, but will miss all the team here. I’ll still pop in and see them though – although not on deadline day!”

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