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Independents embrace regional press April Fool tradition

Nudist swimming sessions, airport rebrands and a pressure group called ‘SHAG’ have all featured in the ‘news’ today after independent local news titles spearheaded this year’s April Fool story drive.

The hyperlocal sector has proved a fertile source of April Fool’s Day stories as editors took the chance to play jokes on their readers.

Among them was Cwmbran Life, which claimed a new open water swimming club for nudists was being launched on a local boating lake.

Naked swimmer ‘Oliver Cloth-Soff’ was quoted as having spearheaded the idea.

An artist's impression of the Bedford Castle Mound slide

An artist’s impression of the Bedford Castle Mound slide

Specialist publication Tees Business reported Teesside International Airport was set to be rebranded as South Tyneside International Airport in a bid to attract more “Geordie travellers”.

The website said the new-look airport would be “branded in Newcastle United’s famous black and white” but added the move was yet to be sanctioned by airline industry authority ‘Air Offpoll’. Updates on the breaking story are “to follow from midday”, Tees Business promised.

In Staffordshire, A Little Bit of Stone reported a one-way system in place on Stone High Street will be reversed on certain days of the week.

The title claimed the plan had been developed by the Stone Highways Action Group, or SHAG for short, after a “near-miss with a busker, Avril Jester, brought home the dangers of pedestrians and vehicles coming together”.

The Bedford Independent reported a slide was set to be installed on Bedford’s ancient Castle Mound, while Gedling Eye covered the launch of a new three-part Channel 5 drama set around the construction of the new £49m Gedling Access Road.