Staff have been told that Rebecca Fleming is going to take over from John Dale as the editor of Take a Break – the UK’s top-selling women’s weekly.
Fleming has a long association with Take a Break after joining it as a features writer in 1996. She went on to become deputy editor before leaving to become editor of Bella. She left Bella in 2003 saying that she wanted to spend more time with her two-year-old daughter.
She currently writes a column for Take a Break chronicling her experiences as a working mum.
In the first half of 2010 Take Break, which is published by H Bauer, sold an average of 855,373 copies a week (down seven per cent year on year) which put it nearly 300,000 copies ahead of its nearest rival, New!.
John Dale announced his decision to step down as editor in November after 20 years in the job. His six-month notice period is understood to run until the beginning of May.
When asked about the secret of Take a Break’s success in November, Dale told Press Gazette: “I like to deal in serious subjects.
“I don’t believe that popular journalism has to be trash – and I think that readers like that we write just as good a story about someone’s life as we do about X Factor.”
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