An editor who launched a new newspaper has recalled its creation 10 years on.

The Sittingbourne News began life in December 2011 following Northcliffe Media’s decision to close the East Kent Gazette.

The KM Group then launched the News, then known as the Sittingbourne News Extra, with just a nine-day turnaround time.

Launch editor Matt Ramsden has now recalled the launch of the News in a first-person piece marking a decade in business for the paper.

The 10th anniversary edition of the News

Matt, who now edits the Medway Messenger, wrote: “When the EKG announced its intention to close, senior editorial and commercial colleagues met to discuss what to do and how to do it.

“Over the course of a few days, the conversation went back and forth as it wasn’t a straightforward decision for many different reasons – not least because the economy was on its knees at the time.

“But the decision was made and the countdown started in earnest as we needed to be quick to fill the gap so readers didn’t get used to not having a paper on sale.”

In launching the News, the KM decided to dispense with its usual masthead style and make the top of paper blue “so people associated it with the EKG”, while Matt recalled the nine days before its launch being “packed with action and nervous energy”.

The KM already ran a Sittingbourne edition of the Kent Messenger at the time, which contained 20 pages of news relating to the town.

Northcliffe had wanted to sell the Gazette to the group along with six other Kent titles, but the deal collapsed after intervention from competition watchdogs.

He added: “The newsroom was buzzing as we attempted to write as many stories as possible and complete as many pages as we could ahead of time.

“And then it was all done and dusted when on 14 December, the first Sittingbourne News Extra hit the streets – 96 pages, comprising 72 news stories, four pages of nativity photos, seven pages of local sport, a new letters page plus a 40-page county leisure guide and much more.

“If that wasn’t enough, our colleagues in the newspaper sales department sourced some welcome reader offers such as festive pies and football tickets.

“The first publication day was a proud one for staff as scores of kind readers called to congratulate us on a job well done. That was apart from one aggrieved man who said ‘there was nothing in it’.

“After it was pointed out there were: 96 pages, comprising 72 news stories, four pages of nativity photos, seven pages of local sport, a new letters page, plus a 40-page county leisure guide, he replied: ‘Well, there’s nothing in it for me.’

“Just goes to show you can’t please all the people all of the time.”