An editor who has spent his life on newspapers in the Midlands is coming south to edit the Richmond & Twickenham Times series.
Paul Mortimer, editor of Yattendon’s Staffordshire Newsletter since 1996, is joining the Newsquest Media weeklies on 31 March and will have a hand-over period of a month with retiring editor Malcolm Richards.
He has already been down to the Times HQ a number of times to begin getting a feel for the patch.
Mortimer, 52, said: “This is a complete departure for me. I have always worked in the Midlands and I am really looking forward to taking the Times on from where it is at the moment.
“London’s quite a new area to me. Richmond is an upmarket place and the newspapers also cover Hounslow, Twickenham, Mortlake, East Sheen, Chiswick and Teddington – quite a significant patch of south-west London.”
There are six paid-for and three free titles included in the series.
Mortimer started in journalism at 18 in 1967 at the Staffordshire Advertiser and later worked for the Express & Star, Wolverhampton, the Birmingham Evening Mail and 11 Thomson Regional Newspapers Midlands weeklies.
He edited the Tamworth Trader and arrived at the Newsletter as assistant editor in 1991.
By Jean Morgan
Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog
