A local journalist who has been reporting on his town for more than 50 years is still filing copy, despite his official retirement.

Dave Stacey, now in his 70s, continues to write for the Burton Mail, in the town where he began his career.

He started work at the Burton Chronicle at the age of 15 before embarking on his national service three years later.

He returned to the now-defunct Chronicle for a year before joining the Burton office of the Derby Evening Telegraph.

Dave’s first stint there lasted little more than a year before he was offered the editorship of the Chronicle, even though he was just 22.

But he couldn’t settle into a desk job and returned to the Telegraph, where he stayed for another 30 years, before moving to the Burton Mail, where he worked until retirement.

Dave said: “I quite enjoyed it at the Telegraph and stayed there a long time. But I applied for a job at the Mail and got it.

“The best thing about this job is that you deal with things as they happen and then move on to something else. I don’t know anything else.”

Back to the Bygones index

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