Wigan Evening Post editor Gillian Gray is leaving the paper to take up the editorship of her hometown paper the Blackpool Gazette.
Gray takes over from David Helliwell, who left to become editor of Carlisle’s News & Star in November.
She has edited the Evening Post for the past 15 years and is also group editor of Johnston Press subsidiary Lancashire Publications, with responsibility for the Wigan Observer and The Reporter weekly series.
She leaves the position on 23 March and takes up new role on 2 April.
‘Blackpool is my home town so it’s great to be going back – I’ve got lots of family and friends on the Fylde coast and I’m looking forward to what are some pretty big challenges,’she said.
‘There have been so many changes in the way we operate – and with the digital opportunities and the challenge of newspaper sales there is plenty of work to do.”
‘I’ll be very sorry to leave Wigan. There is a fantastic team of people here and some very talented journalists, who it has been a privilege to work with. But I’m excited and looking forward to the challenge ahead.”
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