When David Ward started at The Guardian in 1974, he was one of 95 journalists manning the paper’s Manchester newsroom on Deansgate in the heart of the city.

Now as he prepares to leave the paper and reflects on almost 35 years of court cases, colour pieces and theatre reviews, he is one of the paper’s two full-time news reporters in the city.

Ward has applied for voluntary redundancy but is waiting for official confirmation, and looks set to close the door on a career that began on the Whitley Bay Guardian via the Swindon Advertiser and Newcastle Journal and three decades at The Guardian.