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Regional news site doubles size of team with new recruits

Luke BEardsworthA regional news website has doubled the size of its editorial team – including new recruits to cover two football clubs on its patch.

Lancs Live has recruited five new journalists in recent weeks as it prepares to mark one year in business.

The Reach plc-owned website has poached news journalists Tom Earnshaw and Rachel Howarth, who previously worked for JPIMedia in Preston and Wigan respectively, while John Macpherson has joined as chief reporter from Manchester Evening News weekly titles.

The site has also recruited Staffordshire University graduate Jaquob Crooke to work as its Blackburn Rovers writer, while George Hodgson will hold the equivalent role covering Preston North End.

Reach announced in November that it would be creating a total of 46 jobs as part of the expansion of its Live network, and three of the Lancs Live roles have been created as part of that expansion.

Publisher Luke Beardsworth, pictured, told HTFP: “The expansion of Lancs Live is a huge vote of confidence not only in what we do, but the industry in general.

“With the team doubling, there’s so much more we can do. As a lifelong PNE fan, the addition of a permanent club writer is a particularly big deal for me.

“We did a lot of 2019 but only a fraction of what we wanted to and what we’ll now be looking to do in 2020. I’m excited by every single appointment we have made.”