A regional news agency is under new management following the retirement of its founders after more than 35 years in business.

North News and pictures, based in Newcastle, has announced husband and wife team Ted and Jane Ditchburn have retired from the company they launched.

The agency’s head of words Victoria Williams, pictured, will now take over the firm as owner and managing director.

The company was founded in 1984 as a news and photo agency supplying newspapers, magazines and broadcast media with stories and pictures from across the North-East of England and beyond.

Victoria said: “At our heart is a core of talented journalists, photographers and videographers, available 24/7, skilled in creating stories and pictures of the highest quality, and familiar with working under pressure, to deadlines.

“Despite Covid-19, and all that means, I feel there are great opportunities for North News, and its staff, to not only survive, but really thrive.

“We already have a client list which includes some of the most dynamic organisations across the north and a big part of my energy has been devoted to a marketing plan designed to significantly build on this.”

She added: “Ted and Jane have been fantastic mentors over the years, and I will always be grateful to them for the opportunities they have given me, and the many interesting and valuable experiences they’ve enabled me to have, from very early on in my career.

“I would like to thank them both for passing on their business and leaving me quipped with the tools I believe I need to work towards taking North News to the next level and securing a bright future for the company and staff within it.”

Ted said he and Jane were “delighted” Victoria would be taking over the company.

He added: “While in some ways it is a real wrench to leave the fact is that it that stepping back is something, we have been working toward for a few years now.

“Vicky has a great team blending experienced, talented names, familiar to many in the media, with youth. Despite the Covid-19 crisis I and Jane worked with Vicky, as part of the handover process, to bring in three new employees only last month.

“She has been with us a number of years and knows the company inside out and has already been central to developing new clients, and new products and services, with her knowledge of the whole new digital media landscape, and great energy, we couldn’t be leaving the company in better hands.”