Ashburton Guardian 140th Birthday|Sep 27 2019

The Ashburton Guardian ASHBURTON, NEW ZEALAND: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2019

THIRTY TWO PAGES

140

YEARS

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THE ASHBURTON GUARDIAN: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2019

The world around us is changing … and so are we One hundred and forty years ago the Ashburton Guardian was born.

A newspaper for the Ashburton District. Written about the people, for the people.

Those core values are still the same today. We’re still all about the local aspect of our news.

What’s changed though, is how we deliver it.

What started as a newspaper has evolved, adapted and changed over 14 decades and we’re now reaching more Mid Cantabrians than we ever have done before.

It started with a website, and then a social media presence and now, in more recent years, the introduction of Ashburton’s own App. No longer do we have to wait until the next day to inform.

Motoring Friday,July5,2019

Jenny’s XK8 Jaguar is her dream car.

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We’re there on the spot, providing local news.

As it happens.

The future is certain to throw us more challenges and new and innovative ways to bring our news to the community.

And we’ll be ready, once again, to make that happen.

THE ASHBURTON GUARDIAN: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2019

Will you keep us company?

It’s hard to guess what went through my greatgrandfather’s mind when he purchased the Ashburton Guardian in 1900.

The newspaper had been in existence for 21 years when Robert Bell took it over, but already Ashburton was showing steady growth as a market town, a day’s journey by horse and cart from Christchurch.

I do know he saw the need to keep people informed about the small and scattered community in which they lived. On his first day he symbolically held a mirror to Mid Canterbury society to begin a distinguished record of reflecting the news, information and advertising that they required.

He saw the need to bring people together so they could feel part of a community and be involved in the events that shaped Mid Canterbury then and in the years to come.

The Guardian covered the end of the Boer War and the Mid Canterbury men who served, both world wars, the Spanish flu epidemic of 1919, the great depression, the weather bombs that struck our community, the royal visits, local government amalgamation and the impact of two devastating earthquakes.

Through all these events, the tragedies and celebrations, the Guardian was there to faithfully cover what happened and to seek valued comment and reaction from the people caught up in the turmoil of life.

As a fourth generation Mid Cantabrian, I am proud of the footprint the Guardian has left. The newspaper is fiercely independent and one of the few daily publications that is locally owned and operated.

Owning and publishing a newspaper today is a challenge and faces strong competition. Other media panders to the community, offering them news and information that’s a mile wide and an inch thick. We go the extra mile and dig far deeper than the surface.

As the great-grandson of Robert Bell, I’m privileged and delighted to celebrate with you the 140th anniversary of the Ashburton Guardian. We could not have achieved it without your support through advertising, classifieds, stories and subscriptions.

We face an exciting future which we can’t achieve without your contribution. It’s that vital. The world has changed significantly since Robert Bell printed his first issue, but the need to inform, provoke and entertain you, still remains the same.

Tomorrow is another day, another issue, another small milestone on our journey. It’s also one where we want to take you with us. Will you come? Your company is that important.

Bruce Bell

OWNER AND PUBLISHER

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THE ASHBURTON GUARDIAN: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2019

The importance of being local

I can still remember the conversation like it was yesterday.

I’d just started back at the Guardian as a sport reporter, almost 10 years after my previous stint here, and I was chatting with a friend of mine who was working up the road in Christchurch and was telling him about my new gig back where it all started.

He was gobsmacked and couldn’t believe that I was heading back into the world of a daily newspaper.

“They’re dead and dying,” he said.

“There’s no future in them anymore, they have a limited remaining shelf life.”

It wasn’t anything new, really.

I’d heard it all before, I’ve heard it since and I’d bet my last dollar that at some point soon I’ll hear it again.

I’m a little bit old school when it comes to my beliefs and feelings about what I term as being traditional news.

I love the feel of a newspaper, I like being able to see it all at once and knowing exactly where the things I like to read are going to be each day when I open it up.

And I’m also a big fan of local news – information and happenings that matter to people, things that impact on them, whether it be political, sporting or even just the story on Joe from down the street who’s doing something awesome.

So, naturally the Ashburton Guardian was a perfect fit for me.

At the time that I came back, I was here working as a part-time sports reporter – getting back to my original roots and sitting alongside many of the same people I’d sat next to a decade earlier – and I was excited.

After years of working up the road in Christchurch, dealing with the big stuff for one of New Zealand’s biggest newspapers, the prospect of being able to get a littlefimore personal with the commualand’s nest range aland’s nest nity Ifigrew up in,range talking about people I know and respect and detailing the y furniture y outdoor outdoor furniture triumphs and tragedies of teams which I followed was too much of a golden opportunity to pass up.

Little did I know that within a year that role would have developed into sitting at the helm of the editorial side of the paper and driving the content from front cover to back, not just from a sporting perspective, but across the board.

It was new ground for me. But luckily this little newsroom of journalists has a wealth of knowledge sitting amongst it, names like Susan Sandys, Linda Clarke, Sue Newman and, even more recently, Erin Tasker.

These people are more passionate about the happenings in this district

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than anyone else I know and it shows in the way they write and produce news stories.

If one of them doesn’t know someone, or something about this district, then chances are no-one will.

I’m lucky that they are here and this district is lucky that they are here.

They live and breathe what is happening out there in the community and have done for longer than any of them probably care to remember.

I constantly say how amazing it is that on six days a week for 52 weeks of the year we manage to fill a newspaper with largely local content.

We are but just a district of 33,000odd people, but what is achieved from those within our boundaries on a daily basis is amazing and, if I’m being truly honest, we probably only just scratch the surface despite trying to be on top of it all.

This little place we call home is something we should all be immensely proud of – we punch well above our weight on the national scale and it’s nice to be able to portray those successes within these pages.

Funnily enough though, today, for me anyway, is about us – 140 years of business in any sense of the term is a huge achievement.

But to continue to be the only fully owned independent daily newspaper in New Zealand, and to continue to buck NewNew Zealand’s fi range Zealand’s fi range Zealand’s finest nest range Zealand’s finest nest range the national and international trend of NewNew newspapers, is something I am incred- of quality of outdoor furniture outdoor furniture of quality quality outdoor furniture of quality outdoor furniture ibly proud of and something the entire district should be too.

Across all of our printed publications, this little old newspaper in the heart of the Ashburton District prints more than 46 million pages of news each year.

We detail the good, we detail the bad and we are there for everything else in between.

Sure, we might not have the resources of the big mastheads up or down the road from us, but we do have a connection with the community that few newspapers have these days and that’s something we’re proud to admit.

Be stocks Be while stocks last Be quick...only quick...only while stocks last Be quick...only quick...only whilewhile stocks last last And it’s my goal, for as long as I’m permitted to sit in this chair, to ensure that keeps happening, but to also ensure that we meet the needs of everyone.

That is whether it be through a printed newspaper each day, or in a way in Matt Markham which the news can be consumed in a digital manner, then so be it.

But most of all, thanks to you, our markable people who achieve it six days I look forward to the challenge.

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THE ASHBURTON GUARDIAN: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2019

5

Keeping the faithful close at hand My first introduction to the Guardian was a short stint in an accounts and payroll role.

The Guardian was mostly female dominated, with a very upbeat and positive atmosphere.

There were big changes going on behind the scenes and it was fast-paced and the passion was very evident in the office.

At that time we shared the top floor with the gym and had an office on the ground floor.

On my return ton the Guardian recently as management accountant, after three years away, office space had been downsized to a reduced third floor office.

The majority of the staff remained the same, the atmosphere had retained its upbeat and positive air and there were big changes happening.

We had extended our digital platforms to include apps and were looking to take stock and make improvements.

It was just like groundhog day, but with a few new faces and challenges.

Within months of starting, the general managers position became vacant and I took the plunge and applied.

The job was combined with my current role and the position of general manager/financial controller was born.

New faces appeared and new ideas and focuses have come to the fore.

It’s an exciting time and everyone is buzzing.

Family-owned community newspapers are an endangered species, but with a team effort we can bring the newspaper into the new-age media and keep the faithful print close at hand.

I feel privileged to be a part of the Guardian team and look forward to be a part of the continued supply of news to our faithful followers.

Barbara Adam – general manager

The daily ritual I wouldn’t have thought that back in the late ’90s, working at the Guardian as the marketing consultant, that in 20 years time I would be the sales manager.

It’s been a blast from the past – six weeks learning all the new systems and working with our fabulous team.

The Guardian was my first introduction to newsprint, followed by a stint in radio, then back to newspapers for an uninterrupted 20 years at INL/Fairfax and, lastly, the majority of those years at Allied Press both in senior management and on the ground in sales.

I look forward to being part of the Ashburton community again and bringing the Guardian to your gate.

Having worked in newspapers for this long I’ve become well aware that newspapers are alive and well in

New Zealand and we can see from overseas trends that small communities like ours are still big newspaper readers, contrary to what the message is from whoever the experts are.

It is still part of our daily ritual to start the day with breakfast and a crisp clean newspaper.

The jubilation of young and old seeing their photo and stories in the local daily newspapers still hold true.

And, my word, if it doesn’t arrive we certainly hear about it.

I thrive on building relationships with the local businesses, whether brand new businesses or ones that have existed for nearly as long as the Guardian, and I’m more than happy to share advertising campaign ideas of my past to help you grow your business here in Ashburton.

Sonia Gill – sales manager

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THE ASHBURTON GUARDIAN: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2019

Recording our triumphs and tragedies When I was growing up my mum would cut out and save all the newspaper stories which mentioned my sister Anna and I. Letters to Santa, academic successes (my sister’s rather than mine) and the occasional embarrassing photograph, going through the cuttings is a reminder to me of the importance of local newspapers like the Ashburton Guardian.

Throughout my life the Guardian has been there for our triumphs and our tragedies.

The wall-to-wall coverage of Mid Canterbury’s victory in the NPC third division final in 1994.

As a young lad of 11 it felt like winning the World Cup. My Dad worked with one of the players and I got to look after a championship medal for a few days.

They were there for weeks and months covering the death of Kirsty Bentley, not much older than me at the time, and again for the Winz shootings in 2015.

The Guardian was covering the stories in our community in an in-depth way that the national media could never offer.

It’s not news that up and down the country newspapers are struggling.

Two years ago the Nelson Mail axed its Tuesday and Thursday editions, and the Marlborough Express cut back to just three days a week.

To our south, the Timaru Herald has seen double digit percentage decreases in circulation in each of the past two years.

Their response has been to reduce lo-

Andrew Falloon cal news, making redundant their sports reporters.

I think it’s the wrong approach and, here in Ashburton, the Guardian shows why.

People can get international and na-

tional news from anywhere online, and so the Guardian’s response has been to unapologetically go local. We’re lucky.

It means we get the coverage here of important local issues in a way that most other communities don’t.

Regardless of one’s perspective, the coverage of debates over the i-Site information centre and the proposal to shift the East Street water feature were unparalleled.

The world is moving fast and nobody

knows what the media will look like in another 140 years, or even in 14 years, but we’re blessed to have the Guardian here recording the stories that are important to us.

Long may it continue.

Local content, the key to success When I think of what Ashburton looked like 140 years ago, to the thriving, bustling town that it is today, there is a common thread; The Ashburton Guardian.

It is impressive and testament to all those that have worked and contributed to the paper, that this publication has been there through every success, challenge, hurdle and celebration.

And today, we celebrate them.

On September 30, 1879, a public notice on page 2 of the newly-created Ashburton Guardian read, “The Guardian is intended to meet the want in the County of Ashburton as a paper specially devoted to the agricultural and pastoral interests”.

It goes on to state that it will be thoroughly independent and appears with its hands untied and in no way trammelled by the influence of any party.

And here it stands, one of the only (if not the only!) independent newspaper in New Zealand.

Providing pages and pages of local content, readership remaining steady, while other smaller community papers all over the country have sadly been shut down.

Perhaps it is the continued and focused local content that has ensured this success.

In that same issue, 140 years ago, there was a write up about the upcoming local government elections.

Today, the coverage of our upcoming elections is fantastic and thorough, giving us the best opportunity to vote for those best for the job.

I appreciate the opportunity afforded to me by the Guardian to have a regular fortnightly column to let the local people of Ashburton know all of the work that the Government is doing and how that impacts and helps our community.

Congratulations Ashburton Guardian, 140 years is an incredible achievement.

Here is to 140 more.

Jo Luxton

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THE ASHBURTON GUARDIAN: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2019

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Local heart with big-picture focus

Amy Adams

Having been a Member of Parliament for 11 years now and having held a variety of ministerial portfolios during that time, it is fair to say that I have had a lot to do with the media both at a local and a national level.

Following electoral boundary changes which brought Rakaia, Dorie, Chertsey and surrounding areas into my electorate of Selwyn, the Ashburton Guardian was proactive in

contacting me to see if I would like to write a fortnightly column on alternating weeks with my colleague, the then MP for Rangitata, Jo Goodhew.

I accepted and this arrangement has continued with current MP Andrew Falloon.

The reason I highlight this is that I consider that this approach to me by the Ashburton Guardian demonstrates the newspaper’s focus on meet-

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ing the needs of local readers as well as being aware of larger changes that have an impact on local people.

I believe that this professionalism and ability to frame larger national issues and place them in a local context are critical factors in the Ashburton Guardian’s continuing success.

In the media landscape of today, there is a huge amount of competition for readers and it is a remarkable

achievement for a regional newspaper such as the Ashburton Guardian to have survived for 140 years and to have retained its independent ownership.

This milestone is testament to the trust and standing that this newspaper has within the community it serves and is truly a cause for celebration.

I would like to congratulate the

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current Ashburton Guardian team, including editor Matt Markham, for their efforts to bring balanced and informative reporting into the homes and businesses of the greater Ashburton District.

I would also like to acknowledge all of the former editors and staff members of the Ashburton Guardian who have contributed to the newspaper’s own story during the past 140 years.

TEXT OR PHONE

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THE ASHBURTON GUARDIAN: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2019

Meet the team

Owner/publisher

Bruce Bell

Time with the Guardian: 45 years Favourite page or section: Opinion pages

Reporter/sub-editor

Linda Clarke

Time with the Guardian: 24 years (in three stints) Favourite page or section: Puzzle page, every day, with my first coffee

Sub-editor

Steve Devereux

Time with the Guardian: 45 years Favourite page or section: Sports/racing/motoring

Circulation

Joyce Bingham

Time with the Guardian: 20ish years Favourite page or section: Everything local

Reporter

Sue Newman

Time with the Guardian: 35 years (in three stints) Favourite page or section: Anything about great local people doing great things

Sub-editor

Helene du Mez Robertson Time with the Guardian: 20 years Favourite page or section: A finished one

Reporter

Susan Sandys

Time with the Guardian: 28 years Favourite page or section: Page one

Graphic sub-editor

Lisa Fenwick

Time with the Guardian: 18 years (in two stints) Favourite page or section: YOU magazine, naturally

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THE ASHBURTON GUARDIAN: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2019

Sports reporter

Erin Tasker

Time with the Guardian: 17 years, over a few stints Favourite page or section: Sport and front page

Selwyn app

Jonathan Leask

Former Sports Reporter Time with the Guardian: Eight years Favourite page or section: Sport

Copy setter

Financial admin

Dianna Leonard

Steve Stratford

Graphic designer

Graphic designer

Yendis Albert

Francoise Belpadrome

Time with the Guardian: 11 years Favourite page or section: Sport

Time with the Guardian: Six years and counting Favourite page or section: The giveaways. I spread the word to many people as possible, to read and enter draws. I love seeing a smile

Time with the Guardian: Ten years Favourite page or section: Sport

Time with the Guardian: Five years and five months Favourite page or section: Classifieds, of course

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Receptionist

Pauline Woolley

Time with the Guardian: Nine years plus Favourite page or section: Catching up with the local news

Editor

Matt Markham

Time with the Guardian: Four years (in two stints) Favourite page or section: Racing, naturally

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THE ASHBURTON GUARDIAN: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2019

Photographer

Robyn Hood

Time with the Guardian: 2 1/2 years Favourite page or section: Pic pages (of course) but coming from a racing-family background, I always read the racing section

Receptionist

Ruby Hidalgo

Time with the Guardian: Two years Favourite page or section: Editorial

Media consultant

Media consultant

Cushla Harborne

Neil Cushen

Time with the Guardian: Two (and a bit) years Favourite page or section: Your Place – fun, food and photos

App manager

Vicky Joyce

Time with the Guardian: Two years Favourite page or section: Your place

Time with the Guardian: Two years Favourite page or section: News

Rural reporter

Heather Chalmers

Time with the Guardian: One year (in two stints) Favourite page or section: Farm pages

Proud to call Mid Canterbury home

Contact Alastair today.

Reporter

Jaime Pitt-MacKay

Time with the Guardian: Two years (in two stints) Favourite page or section: Sport

Photographer

Heather Mackenzie

Time with the Guardian: One year Favourite page or section: Any pages with motorsport photos on them

Phone 03 307 8557 Mobile 027 274 3469 Email am@mcintoshgroup.co.nz 38 JB Cullen Drive, Ashburton Business Estate

THE ASHBURTON GUARDIAN: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2019

Sub-editor

Donald Hurst

Sub-editor

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General manager

Sales manager

Time with the Guardian: 33 years Favourite page or section: Opinion

Mandy Woods

Time with the Guardian: 26 years Favourite page or section: Most definitely local news

Barbara Adam

Sonia Gill

Media consultant

Graphic designer

Media consultant

Media consultant

Danaka Bennett

Charin Phumcharoen

Angeline Mapu

Angus Kebbell

Time with the Guardian: Ten months Favourite page or section: Puzzles

Time with the Guardian: Seven months Favourite page or section: Friday page seven

Time with the Guardian: Around one year in two stints Favourite page or section: The front page

Time with the Guardian: Six months in two stints Favourite page or section: Soduku

Time with the Guardian: Two months Favourite page or section: Sport

Time with the Guardian: Five awesome weeks Favourite page or section: What’s on

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THE ASHBURTON GUARDIAN: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2019

Steve’s the consummate newspaper man

‘

I was sports mad so the option of becoming a sports sub was a win-win.

It was a big choice but, at the end of the day, I guess I’m a newspaper man and it was sticking with “But the upside was Ask Steve Devereux newspapers. the opportunity to about his working life

Steve Devereux with his “baby”, Friday’s motoring section of the Guardian.

and he gives a wry smile.

Over the past 45 years he’s been part of undoing decades of printing history and an equal part of its rebuilding.

He’s modest, shy and the last person to share his story about where he’s been and what he’s done. But it’s the Ashburton Guardian’s 140th birthday and Steve’s story is a crucial part of its history.

He’s a consummate newspaper man and passionate about the industry, its stories, the people and the events that have shaped both his life and the newspaper itself.

It’s 1974, Steve is 16 and smart when it comes to English. His mum and dad decide it’s time for him to leave school and get a real job.

“Dad knew the Guardian foreman and asked me if I wanted to have a look at printing. I didn’t know what that meant but I had a look and, three days later, I started,” Steve recalls.

He was the boy in a print room full of men. He thought they were old (most were well under 30) and it was one of those, the late Paul “Fred” Stanger, who took him under his wing.

At the time, the printing industry was hot metal and linotype machines. It had been like that for the past 100 years and industry diehards believed it would stay that way.

As part of preparing type “we melted down lead and you expected everyone to burn themselves. It was just a matter of how badly,” he recalls.

But a couple of years down the track, their world changed before their eyes. Hot metal and linotype machines disappeared, replaced by cold type, paste-up and superior print. The new Goss Press arrived. It was big, blue, stood about two metres high and had its own temperature-controlled room.

In those days printers and electricians were top of the trades and we watched them disappear, Steve said. “That was tough on some of the older blokes.

learn new skills.”

The winds of change continued with personal computers arriving to replace typewriters, job skills morphed and, by the mid 1990s, the print/ comp room was axed completely.

A trade that was centuries old, jobs that had been the livelihood of generations of Ashburton men, no longer existed.

For Steve and his mentor, Fred Stanger, change meant endless opportunity.

Fred became the Guardian’s technology guru and Steve grabbed the opportunity to retrain as a sub-editor.

“I was sports mad so the option of becoming a sports sub was a win-win. It was a big choice but, at the end of the day, I guess I’m a newspaper man and it was sticking with newspapers.”

Steve worked through the Guardian’s move from afternoon to morning publication and from broadsheet to compact (tabloid). During his career, he’s counted 45 Christmas parties, 14 editors, three stolen bikes, thousands of sticky buns eaten, a million race meetings, hundreds of games of squash played and thousands of people who’ve passed through the Guardian’s doors as employees.

The only constant has been Guardian owner/publisher, Bruce Bell. They started within a few weeks of each other, frequented the same parties, enjoyed fast bikes and fast cars and can tell stories that made them wonder how they survived their teens and 20s.

The stories are endless but most are better not told Steve says. “Somehow I wonder how we lived through those times.”

He affirms that the Guardian was “a hell of a lot more than just a job for me”.

Through it all he’s seen the newspaper defy all predictions it was a dying form of communication.

“Every time there’s a change, people have said it’ll be the end of newspapers,” Steve comments.

“The internet arrived and we thought we had hours to live.”

But the newspaper’s still here.

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THE ASHBURTON GUARDIAN: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2019

13

Guardian’s answer to a midwife Joyce Bingham doesn’t like being disturbed at 2am but it’s part of a job she loves.

She’s on call. She’s the Ashburton Guardian’s answer to a midwife, but it’s not babies she delivers, it’s newspapers.

Joyce is circulation manager, a job she’s held in various forms for the past 20 years.

About 2am six days a week thousands of copies of the Ashburton Guardian arrive at the depot from the printer.

Joyce has organised five urban drivers to meet the delivery van.

Most of the time it works like clockwork but, on occasions, the insides fall apart.

It’s then that Joyce, tucked up in her bed, receives a call.

There’s been a breakdown at the printers, bundles are missing, or the delivery truck is running late.

Joyce springs or innersprings out of bed and handles the situation.

Sometimes it’s every other night, sometimes once a week and often she gets a good night’s sleep for days on end.

What’s important to her is getting the Ashburton Guardians to loyal subscribers.

She prides herself on a faultless record but, she’ll occasionally get a grumpy call.

Joyce recalls one occasion when the subscriber was so irate, she told him to calm down in case he had a heart attack.

“He listened to me, settled down and was very appreciative when I delivered his paper,” Joyce recalls.

Those calls are the exception because Guardian readers are passionate about their newspaper.

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“They want their daily fix with their breakfast.

“It’s life or death to them,” she says.

“I’m the fixer, the trouble-shooter, the re-deliverer of missed and wet paper, the one who sorts things out.”

In addition to the town delivery, there are rural subscribers.

She also has a small run herself to addresses that urban drivers can’t reach.

Joyce is the public face of the Guardian, the person who meets more faces and solves more problems than anyone else.

She wouldn’t have it any other way.

But like Steve Hansen who wants his All Blacks to be versatile, Joyce has a myriad of jobs at home and in the office.

She handles the calls from people go-

ing on holiday who want to cancel their newspaper.

“Often it’s the last thing they do and the ring comes to me all hours of the day or night,” she says.

Fortunately, Joyce is a light sleeper.

She also ensures the online newspaper is available to be read, she collects the returns and covers reception.

Joyce loves the Guardian – “this amazing product that people are meant to have” – but there’s something else that’s almost as important to her.

It’s Sunday, when she sleeps.

“I have a well-deserved liein,” she says.

Just don’t ring her then and cancel your paper.

- Celebrating 30 years in business

Congratulations to the Guardian on their 140 year anniversary

14

THE ASHBURTON GUARDIAN: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2019

Bell family continues independence

tually become his father’s successor in the newspaper industry.

While at the Timaru Herald, Robert purchased a partnership interest in Ashburton’s daily newspaper, the Ashburton Guardian and the tri-weekly morning paper, the Ashburton Mail.

By 1902 he had acquired full ownership of both newspapers.

He continued an active interest in the newspaper industry nationally and internationally and was also for a time part-owner of the Timaru Herald and a director of the Lyttelton Times.

Robert was also vice-president of the Press Congress of the World in 1916, 1921 and 1926 and presided over the 1931 congress in Mexico city.

He died in London in 1937.

William Bell may have become the Ashburton Guardian’s heir, but his four brothers also spent time in the family business when their school days were over.

He joined the Guardian in the administration area in 1908 as a 16-year-old, becoming company secretary in 1922 and managing director in 1937.

He held the latter position until his death in 1968.

William’s tenure of the paper included the tough years of World War Two when the company faced a restriction on paper supplies.

That meant a closure of its printing arm and a reduction in paging in the daily paper to just six pages.

The great snow of 1945 was a special challenge as Guardian staff battled to produce and deliver the paper.

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Post war, the Guardian flourished under William’s direction and a strengthening economy saw its size increase.

Until the early 1950s the Guardian was published as two editions – a 3pm print time for a country edition and 4pm for the town edition, six days a week.

The acceptance of a five-day, 40-hour working week as the norm meant the paper was then printed at 3pm Monday to Friday and at 12.30pm on Saturdays.

He established the rural delivery system in 1960, a 170km circuit from Ashburton to Methven, Rakaia and back.

Additional runs were added throughout the ’60s.

When he died he had completed 60 years with the Ashburton Guardian.

He was survived by his wife Emily Oakley and two children John McPeake and Valerie Joy.

CONTR AC

Robert Bell was just 20 when, in 1883, he sailed from Glasgow, bound for Townsville, Australia, and a new life.

On landing he quickly secured a position as manager of the Townsville Bulletin.

He also continued a ship-board romance with fellow immigrant Mary McPeake, who had carved out her own successful business as a milliner.

The couple married in November, 1885, and decided to move to New Zealand, settling down in Timaru to raise their family.

Robert secured a position as sub-manager at the Timaru Herald, becoming manager one year later.

Three babies were to die before their first surviving child was born in 1888, with six more following in quick succession.

One of those, a twin, William Bell, would even-

William Bell–running paper during tough war years

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THE ASHBURTON GUARDIAN: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2019

15

of Ashburton’s daily newspaper Bruce Bell–the innovator

John Bell–in charge for more than 50 years

John Bell took over the reins of the Guardian from his father William, and would also go on to lead the newspaper for more than 50 years.

He joined the Guardian in 1943, determined to learn the business from the bottom up.

His working life started as a proof-reader, graduating to a position on the clerical staff and eventually moving into the advertising department.

Until his death in 2003, he retained a keen interest in the newspaper industry.

In 1954, 11 years after joining the staff, John became advertising manager, a position he held until his father’s death in 1968.

From 1962 he had been a director of the company and was more than prepared to take over the role as managing director after his father’s death.

He would hold this position until his retirement in 1999.

While John became the consummate newspaper man, his first love had been engineering.

The war years, however, put his plans to study on

hold and post war, when jobs and money were scarce, the family business proved to be a wise career choice.

It was in the technical side of the Guardian that John had an opportunity to indulge his love of engineering, buying new printing presses to speed up the process of publishing the Guardian each day.

He also tidied up the rural delivery system his father had put in place and introduced computerised publishing systems to the Guardian.

In 1974 he masterminded the planning of the new Guardian building and it was a testament to his meticulous planning that publication of the paper continued uninterrupted while construction took place and staff were spread around Burnett Street in rented offices.

During John’s time as managing director, the Guardian achieved its highest readership – 92 per cent. His passion was for the Guardian to be a local paper for the local community.

John died in 2003 and was survived by his wife Helen, until her passing earlier this year, and children Bruce, Alastair and Alison.

The Guardian might have changed since his great grandfather Robert’s day, but its role, to accurately record and report the news of the community without fear or favour, has not.

Bruce joined the Guardian as a clerical worker in 1974, later working in advertising sales and then becoming its general manager and now its managing director.

With Bruce at the helm, the Guardian would go through some of its most significant changes.

In 1993 he established a printing business, Guardian Print.

In 2002 it became a stand alone business, operating from a new site.

Watching that business grow to become a 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week printer gave him immense satisfaction, he said.

Bruce led the switch to compact format for the Saturday paper in 2000 and this was an instant hit with readers.

In 2007 the paper underwent the most significant change in its 117-year history when it changed

from an afternoon to a morning publication.

There was plenty of risk involved as the move put the paper head-to-head with the Press, but the move paid off in a stronger subscriber base.

The launch of www.guardianonline.co.nz signalled the company’s determination to continue as a leading news organisation, giving its subscribers and casual readers an option in the way in which they received their news.

The change to a compact format, six days a week kept the Guardian in line with the majority of newspapers, worldwide, and set up for the future as a strong news organisation that gathers its news locally but delivers it in a variety of formats, Bruce said.

The format of the paper might have changed, and its online news presence might be growing but the heart of the Guardian’s business had not changed.

“Local news will always be our focus, we’ll continue to be an advocate for the community, but as a news organisation of the future, we’ll be delivering that news in a variety of ways.”

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THE ASHBURTON GUARDIAN: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2019

19

Memoirs of the never-ending boomerang The Ashburton Guardian has been full of boomerang staff, who show up again a few years later so farewell parties always seem to be temporary goodbyes.

I was fortunate enough to be asked twice to become the editor of this esteemed publication with so much history.

The Guardian might be small in size compared to other newspapers I have worked on, but the history and the deep emotional connection to its community makes this paper a pretty special place to work.

The memories of my first days at the old Burnett Street premises in January, 2002, are still very vivid.

As young editor, or young upstart, it was pretty daunting to take charge of a newsroom with some very experienced old hacks, as well some very young, keen reporters and photographers.

The mixture was great, the energy good, but after coming back from working at News Ltd in Sydney during the Olympics only a few months earlier, the Guardian was a bit of culture shock.

Trying to find the balance between introducing new ideas whilst respecting the traditions was not always easy, and resulted in some robust discussions.

Thankfully, everyone shared a common goal of producing the best little newspaper in the country, so everyone was keen to learn from each other.

The Guardian does not have the resources of some bigger organisations, but the spirit of the staff and the pride in the paper’s independence, more than makes up for that.

Reporters, photographers, sub-editors, sales and office staff all went far beyond the call of duty, and it was a pleasure trying to channel all that positive energy.

When the Guardian was still an afternoon paper, the days started early with a 7am news conference and often finished late into the night with council meetings, sport matches, or a fire that needed to be covered, but staff rarely complained.

One day that stand out from that first period was the big snowstorm of 2002.

It made it difficult for staff to get home, but we produced the best frontpage of the year (according to the Qantas media awards), thanks to aerial photos taken from the plane of one of our farming contacts who was crazy enough to put his plane in the air.

I also still have fond memories of the fantastic line-up of sports columnists we managed to sign up for next to nothing due to some good bartering.

I don’t think many papers in New Zealand ever had or ever will have a weekly line-up of Silver Fern Angela Evans (now Mitchell), All Whites captain Ryan Nelsen, Black Caps star Shane

Bond and a very young Canterbury rugby talent called Ritchie McCaw. Helping Ritchie compile his column was the highlight of the week for one female reporter, who I won’t embarrass by naming, but who had a total crush on the young Crusader and wouldn’t let him get off the phone.

The other great memory from the early days was the shaking of the building when the printing presses started rolling around midday, before they moved to the new Guardian Print building. In a few steps, you could walk past the subeditors and grab the first copy off the press, soaking up the smell of the ink.

After a brief hiatus at The Press, owner Bruce Bell approached me to come back to the Guardian in late 2011 to guide the paper through some significant new projects.

I walked into the flash new offices exactly 10 years after I first started, to find many familiar faces and some fresh new talent.

After crawling out of the collapsed Press building on February 22, 2011, I was happy the building was no longer shaking from the printing press, but instead had to get used to the rumble of the freight trains giving me a wee adrenaline rush every few hours.

The Guardian had set itself the ambitious target of creating the first paywall for a newspaper in New Zealand and we were proud to pull it off many years before the New Zealand Herald had the courage to follow suit.

I still believe it was the right decision, as newspapers need to find revenue to pay for their reporters.

Giving your product away for free is simply not a long-term strategy that can succeed.

We were also the first in the South Island to go compact which created lots of new opportunities for the paper and went off without too many hiccups.

Pulling these two projects off was a great effort by all the staff who had to cope with a lot of technical upheaval and getting to terms with new ways of doing things, so I want to congratulate all of those who were involved and embraced this brave new world.

The Guardian has been a beacon of history, tradition, as well as being a trailblazer for innovation.

I am proud to have played my part in that history and want to congratulate all staff, contributors and readers with this astonishing anniversary and wish them all the best for the next 140 years.

Former Guardian editor, Coen Lammers, looks over the first edition of the Guardian in its current compact form back in 2013.

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THE ASHBURTON GUARDIAN: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2019

If I lived my life again I have vivid memories of dealing with politicians from prime ministers down to local MPs. They all wanted to take advantage of the Ashburton Guardian to publicise their plans, policies and problems.

I was editor during the 1970s and ‘80s at a colourful and turbulent time in New Zealand politics.

Rob Talbot, Postmaster General, under-secretary for Agriculture and local PM was diligent and strong.

He used to tear Hansards apart in parliament.

Rob looked after half of Mid Canterbury from the railway line to the sea.

Colin McLachlan’s electorate extended from the tracks to the foothills.

If you could build a house on the line, you’d be in both electorates, at least until the train came.

Rob had chastised a post office receptionist for greeting a caller with the words kia ora.

We thought he should justify his actions in our newspaper which he did.

With the publicity, which extended throughout New Zealand and, on both sides of the tracks, he realised the error of his ways.

Yes, the Guardian has an influence far beyond Mid Canterbury.

One of the sad days for Mid Canterbury was the closure of Alford Forest Mill with the loss of many jobs.

We thought MP, Colin McLachlan, should respond and play a role so we sent him a telegram asking for his reaction and what he could do to help.

No response.

So we sent another.

No response.

We were privately dismayed at his lack of interest and so sent telegrams daily to his office until he reacted.

Finally, after two or three weeks, I received a response.

I kept it in my drawer for years on end.

“I’ve referred the matter to the Minister of Forests, Mr J.B. Bolger.”

He thought the biggest employer of staff in his electorate was a sawmill.

Yes, the Guardian had an influence far beyond Mid Canterbury in holding ministers to account.

I met Sir Robert Muldoon on three occasions, twice as prime minister and once when he was at the end of his career, as an opposition backbencher.

He was the consummate politician, always good for a quote and a story.

He paid the Guardian the greatest tribute.

He was invited to inspect a bound copy of the Ashburton Guardian, on the right as you entered the Burnett Street premises.

It was open at any page and symbolic of the impartial approach the newspaper took in covering news for more than 100 years.

“I don’t need to see the pages. I know they’re a truthful record,” he said.

Yes, at a time when the PM raged against the media for biased coverage, he chose the Guardian as the exception.

But the newspaper doesn’t exist for politicians, visiting delegates, mayors and district leaders.

Its job is to faithfully publicise the events of the day in a fair, accurate and unbalanced way.

It’s the glue that holds the community together.

Former Guardian editor, Malcolm Hopwood.

No other media does that.

A life without the Guardian would be a life without knowing the people, passions and personalities who contribute to the rich fabric of Mid Canterbury society. It would be too great a loss.

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THE ASHBURTON GUARDIAN: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2019

21

Delivering race results by pushbike As a 12-year-old, Graham Thomas earned his pocket money by becoming the Ashburton Guardian’s race day runner.

Back in 1953 the Ashburton Racecourse had just one telephone and without a bit of innovation, the local paper had no show of getting that day’s race results in that afternoon’s paper.

The innovation came in the form of editor Reg Downes stepson Graham.

“He said to me, do you want a job?

I asked him what I was supposed to do and he said get on your bike and ride to the racecourse and back.”

That was a bit of a hike for a 12 year old on an old bone shaker, but the lure of 10 shillings a race day with the bonus of an additional one pound from the Christchurch Press, and Graham was more than keen.

“My job was to bike to the race course, get the results from the first four races, drop them at the Post Office for the Press and then take them to the Guardian and give them to Merv Thompson the linotype operator,” he said.

He had to make a return journey to get the next four race results for the Press.

It was good money for a lad in short pants, but the return journey to town was always tough – you don’t realise there’s quite a gradient until you’re racing the clock to get there, Graham said.

Working as the Guardian’s race day results boy was an eye opener.

The Julius Premier totemobile was pretty new to the racing scene and when it was parked up at Ashburton there was a sea of cables snaking in all direction to the betting windows, he said.

“When I first went out there I was spellbound.

People were queued up at the five pound windows and there were even half a dozen at the ten pound ones.

I suppose there was nothing much else to bet on in those days.”

Being a race day regular meant Graham got to know the trainers by colour and was able to enjoy watching the odd race while waiting for results.

And if he was lucky, he could also grab some food.

“I’d go into the old stewards’ stand.

They’d say, ‘boy come in and have something to eat’.

It was like Christmas dinner laid out at every race meeting.”

And he recalls poking his nose into the reporters’ room.

“They’d all be working away on typewriters, reporters from Timaru, Christchurch and Ashburton and they’d all be smoking and wearing those visors.”

Back then most race meetings were on a Saturday.

He can’t recall what happened with

Graham Thomas earned his first pocket money as a 12 year-old biking between Ashburton Racecourse and the Ashburton Guardian, delivering results on race day. mid week meetings, but assumed those would have been days when he was unofficially ‘sick’.

And the job had to be done, rain or shine.

“The paper had to be on the street later that day so I had to bike flat out to get those results back on time,” he said.

Those were the days of huge race day

crowds with everyone dressed in their best.

It was a big day out for people.

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Those two years, however, fostered a love of the racing industry that’s remained with him today.

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22

THE ASHBURTON GUARDIAN: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2019

140 years of mayhem and mischief The Ashburton Guardian is celebrating 140 years of reporting this week.

Among that coverage are many stories of mayhem and mischief, showing how 19th-century life in Ashburton and in Canterbury as a whole was not as mundane as one might think.

Old Guardians are peppered with reports of stand-out incidents and occurrences, ranging from the macabre to the downright ridiculous, which reflect both how much our world has changed, and how much it hasn’t.

Modern New Zealand was in its infancy during the latter decades of the 19th century and was a land rife with industrial and agrarian accidents, quirky incidents and draconian law practices.

Many events that occurred during the late Victorian and early Edwardian periods would have given modern health and safety inspectors a heart attack if they had transpired today, and quite a few lawyers would surely react in a similar fashion if presented with a selection of court cases from yesteryear.

The following anecdotes come from past issues of the Ashburton Guardian, spanning the last decades of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century.

1– People crowding around the tracks of the Ashburton Railway Station, date unknown.

1

2 – The quirky story of the soup kitchen incident as published in the Ashburton Guardian, August 24, 1880.

3 – A train travelling through the Ashburton Station, with the new rail bridge behind.

4 – Examples of clay pipes in the Ashburton Museum collection, which were very common in the 19th century.

5 – A half gold sovereign with the head of a young Queen Victoria.

3

2

Troubled transport Before the Ashburton railway overbridge was constructed in 1917, people had a lot of trouble navigating around and over the then-busy thoroughfare.

A Guardian article from 1909 describes a couple who had some trouble retrieving their luggage from the goods shed after sending it ahead to Ashburton from Timaru.

Since the goods shed was on the other side of the tracks, the couple had to take the long way around and upon arriving they discovered that no porter was there to help them with their luggage.

They were prevented from crossing the tracks back to the platform themselves, so they ended up hiring a cab to help them bring their luggage to the platform.

The couple only just managed to make it on to their next train after the hassle and the only reason they were on time was because they arrived 45 minutes early.

This kind of thing wasn’t the worst of the railway’s problems, since train accidents and near-misses, while common across New Zealand, are known to have occurred in Ashburton – at least near-misses.

In 1906, a girl was with her friend trying to cross the railway line and their view down the track was obscured by trucks in the yard.

She made a dash across the tracks without hesitation, only just managing to avoid being hit by the speeding express train that was mere yards away from her.

The girl, while understandably

4

shocked, came away unscathed, and the likelihood of such incidents happening again would be remedied by the opening of the railway overbridge just over a decade later.

Four months down the pipe Amidst the old-fashioned prose of Ashburton’s first journalists, events such as the one following stick out as some of the period’s oddest, at least when it comes to the potential severity of New Zealand’s magisterial justice system.

The Guardian reported that on the December 12, 1879, that a certain George Sinclair would serve four months in the gaol for stealing a tobacco pipe left at the bar of the Ashburton

5 Hotel.

The owner of the pipe, George Martin, claimed that he had set his pipe down on the bar and went to check his horses, which is when Sinclair, drunk beyond all sense, took the pipe.

Following this, Sinclair was arrested by a constable for being illegally on the premises and the pipe was found on his person.

In summary, George Sinclair was thrown in jail for four whole months for trespassing in a bar while drunk and for stealing a tobacco pipe.

This does seem harsh, but under our modern Crimes Act, if the value of stolen property does not exceed $500, then the maximum sentence a person can receive is still three months.

However, surely this case wouldn’t have warranted even that maximum for petty theft!

A kind-hearted twist Compared to the previous two events, this anecdote from an August, 1880, Guardian is a harmless yet intriguing one.

To directly quote the Guardian: “A rather amusing incident occurred at the Christchurch Soup Kitchen one day last week.

“An eccentric individual applied for a bowl of soup, ate it, and on departing, laid a half sovereign on the counter.

“The Benevolent Association are anxious to relieve a few more cases of this sort.”

Adjusted for inflation in terms of buying power for food goods, a halfsovereign – 10 shillings – would amount to roughly $80 in today’s money.

It would certainly buy quite a lot of soup for this man’s fellow diners.

If there is any moral or lesson to be taken away from each of these stories, then I suppose they would be: Don’t steal a man’s pipe while you’re trespassing in a pub, always watch for trains, and, at some point, an eccentric stranger may or may not shower you in cash (still waiting on that last one …)

Happy birthday Ashburton Guardian.

By Connor Lysaght

THE ASHBURTON GUARDIAN: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2019

23

So many stories, so little space Where to begin?

After 45 years at the Guardian, there is, just like The Twilight Zone, hundreds, or thousands, of stories to be told.

Unfortunately there is neither the time, nor the intact memory banks, to relate them, which is probably a good thing in many ways.

When I first entered employment at the Guardian, hired by John Bell, I was introduced to an industry that had been pretty much unchanged for more than a century.

The linotypes were still clanking out lines of type on hot metal and it was the job of the apprentices at the end of the day to melt down mass piles of these leaden ‘slugs’ so the whole process could begin again the next day.

That process involved pouring molten hot lead, melted in a huge vat, into ingots, with hot lead splashing every which way – Health and safety folks would have had a conniption.

Every day, at five minutes to three, the mighty Cossar press would make the floors of the whole building rumble, as Derek Clement would wind it up, producing yet another edition of the newspaper.

How things have changed.

Somewhere along the way, a highlyrespected and skilled trade simply disappeared into history and the blokes that made up the ‘comp room’ eventually disappeared with it.

Back in the day, the Saturday morning crew almost unanimously indulged in a ritual – 11.30am the last page was gone to the press and it was round to the Devon for a few quiet ones and the raffles.

In those days the place was heaving, the Old Boys rugby club ran endless raffles, and the Guardian table was always there to watch the then-ad manager Doug Forsyth clean up way more than his share.

Everyone talks of the people they knew during their time at the Guardian (you’ll find that most everyone in Ashburton has worked at the Guardian at some time in their lives, or their brother has).

I can remember a few.

There was The Womble, Chainsaw, Captain Phreddy, Loose Brain, The Old Gray Mare, Uncle Arthur, Chinaman, Wonder Woman, Whitebait, Boggle, Inkspot, The Rt. Hon. DCG Esg., Scratch Cooper, Pygmy Child, those two well-known American police duo Cookie and Rohbaine, Gloria, Giggleguts, The Old Chooks, Furrowed Brow, Spitfire, Brownie, the venerable Clats, and so many, many more.

There was the poor office girl who

one afternoon came out the back door to the bike shed, and her pride-and-joy Honda 50 scooter was nowhere to be seen.

In a panic, eventually she looked skyward, and there, perched on the top ridge of the Guardian building, was her lovely red-and-white scooter.

Words emanated that we were quite unaware the nice young lady even knew.

That building is in fact lucky to even be there; when the brand spanking new Goss press arrived and was installed, there was a fair bit of building work to be done to make it possible.

One night a builder left one of those big lamp things they use up in the loft, which itself was a treasure trove of stories, being packed with old Guardians from way way back, and the lamp was left on – resting very close to a beam made of very old, very dry wood.

When the next day folks complained of a burning smell and the firemen were called, they said it was minutes away from combustion, and the fire would have roared through the whole building in a very short time.

Still with fire; on one occasion that there were drinks after work (there were many such occasions) one of the printers surprised an office girl (a different one) by leaping out and spraying her with foam from a fire extinguisher.

Unfortunately there was no OFF button, and there was white foam everywhere, including over Mr Bell’s shiny new press.

To say he was unimpressed the next day would be understatement of the century.

Yet another office girl: This one liked the industry so much she went on to marry a newspaper magnate.

Then she went on to marry a newspaper magnate ... again.

True story.

Even earlier in history, there was a delivery driver who had a penchant for a nice nip of gin, like very often.

So often that he liked to sit in the back of his car while a 13 or 14-year-old boy would drive around the delivery route.

Possibly that might be frowned upon in this day and age.

There are so many other stories, so many other people, that go to make the newspaper what it has been, for the people of Ashburton, for 140 years.

And, despite yet another major threat, like theatres, radio and television all were, it will be around for a while yet.

Steve Devereux

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24

THE ASHBURTON GUARDIAN: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2019

Memoirs of a naughty young sub As a nearly 50-year-old who started at the Guardian as a cheeky teenager, I have seen many changes come and go within the newspaper industry.

My first stint, at the tender age of 17, taught me how to sub on paper.

The loudness of the heavy old typewriters (and some of the older reporters typing so fast with two fingers they were like a blur), the sports reporter smoking in his cubicle, the Friday nights at the Somerset bars, the wild humour and the absolute fear of making a mistake ruled my life for three years, and a love of newspapers was born, as was a love of practical jokes.

My biggest fear though was an old compositor (he seemed old because I was 17) out in the dark and dingy back rooms that were not a welcome place for a young sub-editor to roam.

In fact, everyone in the back rooms seemed old when you were 17, even Steve Devereux, who is not actually THAT much older than me, seemed old then.

Bearing in mind that these guys played with craft knives and hot wax sitting in a metal roller, and that they were grumpy old men, it never bode well to have to go out there.

The stories would print off on a light kind of photographic paper that the comp would cut out with his sharp blade, run it through the waxer and plonk on a page, guided by the sub-editor’s paper layout.

Then the sub would have to tell them which words to cut out to make the story fit to the layout and the finished product would head off to be photographed for the printers.

It was a giant camera, as tall as a human … it had to be to photograph an A2 (broadsheet) page back in the day.

But that old scary comp, we subs got him back!

We did things to his car – a wee blue beetle – that involved fish and cans and even his bicycle had an unscheduled: trip on to the roof of the Guardian (imagine the health and safety risk assessor having a meltdown about that) at one stage.

I have to be fair and tell you that the mean old compositor saved my bacon one day (and it wasn’t the day they left a pig’s eye from the butcher shop in my top drawer, knowing how squeamish I am).

We had done a follow-up story about the Family Planning Clinic which had only been operating a year.

Basically, it had been a year of ups and downs for the newly-minted clinic while they tried to establish themselves and get all their systems in place.

My headline read: Year of ups and downs for family planning clinic.

And I simply didn’t see it, but the

comp did. He tortured me about that for a very long time.

Another time I landed in hot water was when I was a young sub and it was near Christmastime.

Now, back in the day, Christmas was a time of year no-one in newspapers looked forward to.

Not only was it frantically busy, with bigger papers, but some of the staff had to work Christmas Day to get the paper out on Boxing Day. And every year we had a Christmas supplement and all staff had their photos taken to put in the supplement.

Our editor had put the pages with our faces on it up on the office noticeboard.

This particular year I had caught old scary comp (you know who you are Donald Greene) sticking drawing pins into our faces.

Not to be outdone (and being incredibly tired and slightly hysterical), I decided to join in and stick pins in the printers’ and comps’ faces.

But behind me came the deliberately quiet words: “I don’t think that’s appropriate Lisa Fenwick.”

After jumping 10 feet in the air and remembering that if anyone was going to be caught, it would always be me, I pulled the offending pins out and turned my attention to my editor’s words.

Unfortunately, when I’m tired and getting nervous, I will giggle.

In the end, my editor stalked off in disgust, but at least he didn’t fire me.

Another time I possibly should’ve been in more trouble than I was, was when a senior reporter Sue Newman was leaving work.

I doctored her photo to give her missing teeth, a moustache and a mono brow, printed off several copies and popped it up on lamp posts all over town with the help of some other culprits.

The words on the posters were: “Appearing tonight, exotic dancer – (Sue Newman ).

Last night tonight, follow these signs”.

Needless to say, it did not go down too well with the bosses and we were made to take them all down, pronto.

The day I left the Guardian was a sad one.

I was heading for a big OE and saying goodbye to a job I had come to love and a team I had a lot of fun with.

But it was mostly sad because the printers captured me, tied me up to a power pole in the CBD, with a sign saying ‘it’s my last day at the Guardian and I’m shouting the drinks’.

I don’t know how long I was trussed like a chicken for everyone to laugh at, but it felt like forever.

After the two-year OE, I worked at the Timaru Herald for eight years and

Lisa Fenwick then The Citizen (in Christchurch) before coming back to the Guardian with young children in tow, and I’ve been here since.

No longer do we smell those pungent ink or cigarette smells, or attempt to fiddle with the comps’ wax while avoiding them seeing.

No longer do we hear a typewriter pounding away in the background.

Nowadays it’s the quiet tap of computer keyboards and the occasional loud conversation.

There are no comps and no proof readers; many places don’t even have sub-editors anymore.

But the possibilities with computers are endless and exciting.

The amazing graphic work that we can get done by deadline, the speed at which the reporters can let us know what’s going on so we can whip it up online, or on the Ashburton App! The pages whizzing through some cables to a place in Rolleston to be printed and sent back down to Ashbur-

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Yep, things have changed – rapidly – it’s a way harder industry to be in than it used to be, but in so many ways, it’s more exciting – faster, we have to be on the ball all the time, always more to learn and we are in this endlessly fascinating and demanding game because we’re passionate about it!

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THE ASHBURTON GUARDIAN: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2019

25

Congratulations!

Happy Birthday to the Ashburton Guardian!

One hundred and 40 years is something that should be well and truly celebrated, it’s a stunning achievement.

It’s something that the whole region should celebrate as well.

I think we are very lucky to have a sixday-a-week local newspaper in this day and age.

Just a few years ago I wouldn’t have believed I’d be writing something like that in the paper!

Back when I started in radio in the ’90s, the paper was in opposition, in competition for the advertising buck, and certainly not to be talked about on the radio.

Now here I am part of the team.

Although, a small and rather insignificant part.

Also we work in together, the paper provides us with our radio news and I’m pretty sure I provide them with a few leads here and there too.

Yesterday I had Matt in the studio for a chat on air about the paper’s anniversary.

I’ve always thought it would be great if we were in business together.

Imagine it!

It would be fantastic for local advertisers if their ‘rep’ was able to offer packages with both mediums covered.

“If you spend $500 this month you’ll get three colour ads in the paper, 47 30-second ads on the radio and an advertorial on Hoops’ Facebook page.”

Too easy all round!

Reporters could be calling into the radio station on the spot with breaking news highlights, as well as getting ALL the details for the morning’s edition.

When Erin has finished buzzing around

the sports fields on a Saturday, she could pop into the radio station to record a round up before writing up the full stories.

Although we are different mediums, there’s a lot of parallels between the two of us.

The main and most important one is LOCAL. I don’t want some latte-sipping Dorklander writing about our local stuff.

Just like I don’t want to listen to a nationwide radio show talking about what’s going on around here in between the latest Hollywood garbage.

That’s when you end up with newsreaders saying Rakaia is in South Canterbury, which actually happened on our ZB News this week, until I swiftly corrected them.

It seems to me most of our national journos, whether it’s telly, radio, print or online, look for the sensational and often negative angle to stories because these days that sells more copies and gets more hits.

I would much rather have ‘local’ as my first angle and I’m sure the team upstairs has the same focus.

Even if it’s a national or international story, there is nearly always a local angle to it.

Both mediums have battles currently and in the future, with technology, and are both doing our best to move with the times via iHeartRadio and the Ashburton App. Congratulations to Bruce and the team, celebrate the milestone, you deserve too.

Keep up the good LOCAL work.

I wonder what the ‘paper’ will like in four years’ time, let alone another 140.

Till next week, hoo roo

Phill Hooper with wife Amanda and daughter Maddy.

Columnist (for at least another year with all that greasing)

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THE ASHBURTON GUARDIAN: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2019

When Matt’s horse won, his career began Journalists are born, not made. Their first words are “why” and “what does it mean?”

Not mama and dad-dad.

Some children instinctively know they’re going to be writers.

Some take a little while.

Matt Markham knew when he sat in on an interview with his granddad, David Isherwood.

David, a Methven sporting identity, was president of the Methven Trotting Club and his pacer, Santa Catarina, had come second in an important race.

Matt didn’t just listen to the interview, he interrupted.

He contributed with names and information.

“Something gelled in my mind and I started to read the racing news in The Guardian,” he said.

He’d already been active at school, writing projects and sharing news.

“English was a strong subject and I had a passion for reading,” he recalls.

That didn’t mean his sights were set on being editor of the Ashburton Guardian but his mind said “hold that thought”.

When he left Mount Hutt College, Matt took a number of jobs, including work at Speight’s Ale House.

It was there he met Guardian sports reporter, Matt Richens, and photographer, Johnny Mackenzie.

“We all watched a race on TV and my horse won,” Matt says.

Richens asked if he could write and Matt recalled those creative moments when he put biro to paper.

“Yes,” he said.

“I’m looking for someone to write racing copy,” Matt Richens replied.

A career began, not with bells and whistles, but a few of them.

He started by interviewing celebrated reinsman, Ricky May, who lived down the road from his parents.

At first it was part-time, then fulltime as a sports reporter under Sue Newman’s leadership.

The 12 months that followed confirmed Matt’s love of writing.

He then studied journalism for a year at Aoraki Polytechnic in Timaru which led to a position on The Press.

Promotion is sometimes about being the right person in the right place at the right time and Matt certainly was.

He was quickly appointed racing editor and sports reporter by deputy editor, Coen Lammers, and spent seven years learning and mastering the craft.

One abiding memory occurred when the earthquake struck, causing death and injury and severely damaged The Press building in the heart of Christchurch.

The journalists had no base, no home in those tragic days that followed.

“It was harrowing. We assembled in Latimer Square with two laptops and produced a newspaper every day. It made me immensely proud,” he recalled.

However, you can take Mid Canterbury out of the boy but not the boy out of Mid Canterbury.

It’s part of the attraction of Ashburton and its daily newspaper.

It was time to come home.

In addition to his Press duties, Matt was content editor for Harness Racing New Zealand.

That job was portable, so he brought it with him to Methven.

Initially he was part-time as a sports journalist at the Guardian but the position quickly developed into fulltime work.

In 2017 the editorship became available.

Matt knew he was ready for the task.

“I’d absorbed every aspect of journalism,” he said.

“I knew I was on trial, but I’d grown

up in Mid Canterbury, I knew the district and I’d read The Guardian.”

At 29, he was extremely grateful to be offered the position, so he set about proving himself.

Surrounded by a great team, Matt enhanced the Guardian’s profile.

It became a finalist in the Newspaper of the Year Award and won 12 community newspaper awards, including the “most improved newspaper in New Zealand”.

“The people are what makes a newspaper and I want to get the Guardian on as many coffee tables, kitchen benches and in as many homes as possible,” he says.

For 140 years The Ashburton Guardian has been telling the region’s incredible stories.

There are many more to be told and, as the independent and locally owned voice of Mid Canterbury, the Guardian is ready to tell them.

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THE ASHBURTON GUARDIAN: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2019

27

Sue has built a trust with the community Sue Newman always wanted to do something with writing, with words, with people.

The year was 1984, her children were at school and she had time on her hands.

However, that desire came much earlier.

There was a ritual on the Blain farm in Mid Canterbury.

Charlie Blain would come in after a day’s work and read and talk about the newspaper.

“No-one else spoke, only dad. It was really annoying. He was connecting with the world. But it fostered a love of reading at an early age,” Sue recalls.

She had a great imagination.

She loved reading and writing at both Borough School and Ashburton College.

She wrote short stories and had several imaginary friends who kept her busy.

But she wasn’t so busy to consider a career in journalism.

So 35 years ago she approached the Ashburton Guardian seeking a job.

She impressed the editor but she had no formal training, so he tried her in the reading room.

It was a good place to start.

There she had to proof the copy written by reporters.

Traditionally journalists could write but they couldn’t spell so, without spellcheck or Wikipedia, it was an ideal place to start and learn discipline.

“It was an osmosis sort of learning. I absorbed everyone’s writing style,” she recalls.

After three months she wanted to demonstrate hers.

Sue was ready to write her first story.

Editor, Malcolm Hopwood, sent her on her first assignment to interview Elizabeth Grubb who was directing an Ashburton Repertory play.

“I thought ‘Oh my God, I love this.

I love listening to people and their stories’.”

Her career was born.

Better still, the editor was impressed with her story.

Sue became a general reporter and covered everything that came her way.

“Education, health, we did the lot.

Every day was different.

There was real competition to get the best stories, to write the front page lead,” Sue recalls.

She vividly remembers writing a series of articles about the farming crisis in the late 1980s.

“Many farmers were forced off the land and I was privileged to sit down with them and hear their stories.

“It was gut-wrenching.”

With her talent, promotion followed, firstly as chief reporter, then deputy editor, then editor.

She enjoyed employing and nurturing young people, but she missed writing.

Journalism can be a demanding master or mistress and there was a time when she felt burned out.

A change of scene, overseas travel and a few years in Marlborough helped.

But eventually Burnett Street was the magnet that attracted her home.

It was Ashburton’s Fleet Street, where the creative juices of every reporter flowed.

“I love looking at the hills and the back country. Ashburton is close to Christchurch and I’m passionate about the city and its rebuild,” she says.

While Sue has the special ability to find stories, they also find her.

She relates well to people, she’s a good listener and she’s built a trust with the community.

On her return, she again filled every role but her speciality has been local body reporting.

By participating in the community,

she understands the impact of Ashburton District Council decisions and relates them to people.

While she’s dispassionate and impartial, Sue can also be partisan.

“Being a journalist allows you to be intensely involved in local affairs and to take a stance where it’s required,” she says.

The threatened closure of Ashburton Hospital is an example.

Sue has no regrets about being a journalist.

She can’t imagine a world without words.

It won’t happen while she’s there but, unlike her dad, she stops short of reading aloud.

In the future Sue wants to travel more, even to the hot spots of the world.

“I’ve always wanted to work in a war zone,” she admits.

She might be the ideal person to sort out Brexit, but I don’t think the Ashburton Guardian will let her go again.

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THE ASHBURTON GUARDIAN: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2019

Memories of more than 40 years of service I was an early starter in the newspaper business – a paper boy from aged 11 with the Waimate Publishing Company, publishers of The Daily Advertiser.

I spent my school holidays there too helping out and renovating an old linotype machine.

Eventually I was offered an apprenticeship as a linotype operator (machine typographer was the proper title).

Through a series of coincidences I applied for the same position with the Ashburton Guardian in 1968 when I had completed my apprenticeship.

I had found the position advertised in The Press on perhaps the first occasion I had read that newspaper.

I was interviewed on a Saturday morning by Mr John Bell (Bruce Bell’s father) and offered the position immediately.

The staff at the time consisted of John Bell, Doug Forsyth and an office girl in the front office; an editor and probably one reporter; six linotype operators and about four compositors (those people who positioned the type and photo blocks etc into a metal frame to form pages to go on to the printing press).

The printing press, an old Cossar model, had one operator who also mounted the printing blocks with photos etc, the height of which was critical because it had to match the height of the printing type.

In 1975 major changes were afoot in the industry with the introduction of compugraphic computerised type-setting (cold type, compared to the linotypes hot type – cast in lead).

By today’s standards the system was pretty primitive, but the forward thinking of the Guardian management was sound and the Guardian was one of the first newspapers in the country to introduce this system.

I was sent to Auckland to learn the operations of the system and returned to pass on the learning experience to other members of the production staff.

There was some resistance to the change, but by and large it went pretty smoothly considering hot metal typesetting had been around for probably 100 years or more.

The cold-type system used a lot of filmprocessing equipment and a change to a goss offset printing machine was required.

The type was now printed in columns on film paper and pasted up into the page layout along with photos etc.

No more fumes and dust from the old linotype system.

More changes were inevitable now with a larger editorial staff and sub-editors introduced to the production system, and eventually the layout of the pages moved from the old production team to the editorial department and the requirement of the old production team diminished, so more re-training was required to stay in the job.

I moved into advertising and became a graphic designer, while some of my other workmates became sub-editors.

much to eat and drink.

There were any a bleary-eyed awakening after those events and many a sorry soul the next day.

There were a lot of employees passing through the Guardian over the early years, with journalists being able to jump grades and payment scales simply by moving on to another newspaper.

The production crew by and large remained pretty stable – well some of them!

At the present time Bruce Bell, Steven Devereux, Donald Hurst and Sue Newman are long-standing members of the Guardian team that come to mind.

Bruce really did start at the bottom in the industry in the school holidays he had to separate the printing surface from the print blocks.

I’ll bet he loved that!

All in all, the industry and my involvement with it is something I am very proud of and now, getting a bit longer in the tooth, I look back with pride on some of the people I have from time to time met during my tenure with the Guardian, include prime ministers and other notable folk.

It has been noted that many people employed in the newspaper industry become very perceptive individuals, probably because of their association with the many news items and enquiring minds which become second nature in their day-to-day working life in the news industry.

FUNNY STUFF There has been a lot of ‘funny stuff ’ gone

on at the Guardian, especially in the linotype hot metal days and much of that cannot and should not be recorded.

However, I remember we had an apprentice named Peter McQuarters on the staff – yes, that Peter McQuarters you all hear on the radio.

An upright lad was Peter and his enthusiasm for historical stuff was apparent way back when he was a teenager.

On one occasion he brought a fire siren to work, I guess to show his workmates.

It was quite a loud siren and when Peter wasn’t looking one of the more cheeky members of staff took the siren and put it up on the toilet block roof and set it going. Peter was in a real panic and running around looking for it – easy to hear, but harder to find.

SPECIAL OCCASIONS Obviously there have been many special events to remember during my employment with the Ashburton Guardian.

The landing on the moon in 1969 was major at the time and as the news came through I was operating a linotype, casting the news into type inevitably to spread the news in detail to the local population.

1979 was another milestone: The Ashburton Guardian turned 100 years old.

A grand celebration for staff and families at the Ashburton Hotel was held and those staff members who had been with the company for 40 years or more were given acknowledgement.

They were Mervyn Thompson and Kevin Grice.

The Christmas end-of-year functions were also great times with much enjoyment had by all.

The generosity of the management came to the fore with great functions including Grahame Kelly with some of the tools of his former trade.

There were many incidents and tricks played over time and those moments all contribute to a great place to work.

Lastly I must say a big thank you to the Bell family – Bruce and John especially – for providing work for so many Ashburton people over the years.

And for the Bell Tea at smoko, and Bell’s Whisky on more social moments from time to time.

So from my family and I to the Ashburton Guardian, congratulations on 140 years of providing Ashburton with local and national news and the news of the world and a long association with their advertisers and subscribers.

By Grahame Kelly

THE ASHBURTON GUARDIAN: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2019

29

Grahame Kelly (left) and John Bell (front) show visitors the art of putting together a front page using the paste-up board.

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03 308 5774

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123 Main South Road, Ashburton

Phone 03 308 5774

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Baking for Mid Canterbrians for four generations 123 Main South Road, Ashburton

03 308 5774

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Phone Phone308 3085774 5774 Main MainSouth SouthRoad, Road, Tinwald Tinwald

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Phone 03 308 5774

123 Main South Road - Ashburton

30

THE ASHBURTON GUARDIAN: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2019

14 decades of history The Ashburton Guardian of today began life in the fledgling riverside town of Ashburton in 1877 as the Ashburton Mail.

This tri-weekly morning journal was published for 46 years, but nine months after the first papers rolled off the press, it was joined, on March 12, 1878, by the Evening Echo.

This publication, owned by Messrs SJ. Furness and Charles Dixon, ran for a year and then was enlarged under the name of the Ashburton Herald.

To its proprietors’ dismay, however, they found the Mail had a loyal following in Ashburton.

Undeterred they decided to go headto-head with the Mail, publishing a triweekly morning sheet in addition to the Evening Herald.

This third paper duly appeared towards the end of September, 1879, under the name of the Ashburton Guardian.

The new arrangement lasted a year before the two papers amalgamated as a daily evening paper and the Ashburton Guardian was born on October 12, 1880.

That amalgamation coincided with the retirement of its two owners, ushering in five difficult years for the paper where it had a succession of owners.

In 1885, Major WJ. Steward (later Sir William Steward) who had a few months earlier bought the Mail, also acquired the control of the Guardian, and removed its plant and effects from West Street to the Mail office, in Burnett Street – the present site.

The Ashburton Publishing Co., Ltd published both papers until June 30, 1900, when they were sold to Messrs Robert Bell (then manager of the Timaru Herald) and H.A. Mackay.

That partnership was dissolved on January 31, 1902, and Mr Bell became the sole owner.

The papers grew in size.

The last enlargement of the old fourpage sheet of the Guardian was made on October 1, 1907.

In 1911, a big forward move was made, and a paper of 56 columns of 21 inches (eight pages of seven columns each) was published, and the paper was still published at this size until the change to compact format was made in July, 2013.

The first Ashburton Guardian stated that it intended to be a specifically county paper, devoted to agricultural and pastoral interests.

It cost its readers two pence.

It was launched with the sweeping statement that it promised that “in politics it will give an honest support to thoroughly liberal measures, and will be loyal to any government, who, having the country’s confidence, is prepared to legis-

Ashburton’s newspaper history dates back to 1877. late upon a wise and liberal platform, and is capable of administering public affairs with prudence, honesty, and ability”.

New businesses and building provisions were prevalent in the first editions.

H. Moffat begged to inform Ashburtonians that his new Wakanui flour mill was open and H. Montgomery said bricks from its new Ashburton kiln were as good as any in New Zealand.

Hayes’ Timber Yards on East Street advertised 300,000 feet of superior building timber and 20,000 sawn totara and black pine fencing stakes for sale.

Baker and confectioner Edward Taylor opened up, with a 4lb loaf of bread available at the shop at 5½d or 6d delivered.

The Ashburton Store advertised itself as the county’s oldest established business in the merchandise sector.

William Patching offered specials on tarpaulins, horsecloths, oilskin suits, men’s and boys’ macintoshes, leggings, flax and manila rope, blocks, double and single and flags of all nations.

Hotels also flourished, with the Railway Hotel guaranteeing good accommodation, private suites, the best wines and beers and good stabling and loose boxes.

The re-opened Ashburton Central Temperance Hotel advertised weekly board and lodging at £1 or weekly board at 14s, meals at all hours or beds (single) at 1s. 6d.

Thomas Clark opened the Prince Albert Private Hotel in Wills Street near the Railway Station, advising customers he intended to keep good table, affordable comfortable accommodation at moderate charges.

The opening of the Waterton Hotel attracted about 200 guests.

Many others could not make it because transport was booked up.

There was plenty of crime back then and it’s clear that public drunkenness is not unique to 21st century Ashburton – along with indecent assault.

Then, as now, doctors were hard to come by in Rakaia, with a meeting to discuss the problem.

“The delay in obtaining medical attendance from Ashburton – a distance of 18 miles – is so great, particularly during the night and on Sundays, when no trains run, as in many instances to cause the friends of sufferers to run great risk,” said the meeting’s chairman CH. McLean TH. Brewer’s Royal Mail Coach left

Longbeach for Ashburton (via Waterton, Ashton, Wheatstone, and Tinwald) daily, at 7am.

E. Cookson’s mail coach from the Ashburton Railway Station to Green Street, Alford Forest and Mount Somers, left every Tuesday and Friday.

Rates were also an issue in those days, with Chas. Braddell, town clerk, threatening to sue any ratepayers with rates outstanding on October 13.

Early reports from the Guardian show that the town was bustling and thriving in the late 1870s.

It grew so fast the Fire Brigade had to place an order for another bell that “should make its dreaded sounds audible in any part of the town”.

That was because previous bell was “not sufficiently loud in tone to be heard”.

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THE ASHBURTON GUARDIAN: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2019

31

Timeline 1877-2018 June, 1877

January 1, 1911

The Ashburton Mail began production as a tri-weekly morning journal.

The business was formed into a private limited liability company under the name and style of Ashburton Mail and Guardian Company Ltd.

March 12, 1878 The Evening Echo owned by Messrs SJ. Furness and Charles Dixon began production.

1879 The Evening Echo was enlarged under the name of the Ashburton Herald.

September 27, 1879 The Ashburton Guardian began production as a tri-weekly morning sheet to compete with the Ashburton Mail.

October 12, 1880 The Ashburton Herald and Ashburton Guardian were amalgamated and began as an evening daily.

November, 1882 The company took over new offices attached to the southern side of Messrs H. Matson and Company’s grain stores in West Street.

1885 Major WH. Steward, M.H.R. who had just purchased The Ashburton Mail, bought The Guardian.

June 30, 1900 The Guardian was sold to Messrs Robert Bell and HA. MacKay.

January 31, 1902 The partnership was dissolved and Mr Robert Bell became sole owner.

July 3, 1911 The paper changed to eight pages of seven columns per page

1929 The Cossar press was installed, capable of printing 16 pages in two operations, but when the Great Depression hit the next year, advertising plummeted and papers were rarely larger than eight pages.

August 24, 1937 Robert Bell died at the Royal Masonic Hospital in London and was buried at Dunfermline, Fifeshire, Scotland.

1939 The outbreak of war reduced manpower on the home front and with many of the printing staff taking up military service, the commercial printing department was closed in order that production of the newspaper could be maintained.

1950 The advent of the teleprinter news service meant the Guardian could receive news from newspaper offices throughout New Zealand from the New Zealand Press Association’s headquarters in Wellington. News items had previously been keyboarded to Christchurch and then keyboarded and transmitted to the Ashburton Post Office before being dispatched by telegraph messenger to the Guardian office.

The Ashburton Mail began production as a tri-weekly morning journal in 1877, while the Guardian began production in 1879.

July 1, 1977 Eight dairy proprietors in the Ashburton Borough became agencies, throw-out deliveries ceased and letterbox deliveries were instituted. For the preceding 97 years, throw-out deliveries by bicycle, motorcycle, or car had been a tradition.

October 3, 1968

June 4 – 2003

Girl compositors joined the staff and continued to assist in the production of The Guardian until 1908.

The death occurred of Mr W. B. W. Bell, managing director of the company after 60 years’ service. He was succeeded by his son, Mr JM. Bell.

The Ashburton Guardian is a finalist in the Best Newspaper (under 25,000 circulation) and Best Front Page at the Qantas Media Awards.

April 22, 1907

November, 1970

August 2, 2003

The linotypes were introduced and a double-feeder Dawson printing machine and mechanical folders were installed.

The company’s 61-year-old office premises were demolished in November, but the printing department was kept intact. Temporary office premises were acquired nearby. When the new building opened, a German foil-engraving machine was introduced and for the first time in the Guardian’s history, enabled printing blocks of news photographs to be made within a few minutes.

John Bell died and was succeeded by his son Bruce Bell.

1902

October 1, 1907 The four-page sheet of the Guardian was nine columns per page and remained so until July 1, 1911.

1908 The new brick Burnett Street building was occupied. And the mechanical and composing staff moved in. The wooden front portion was sold and, while the new structure was erected, the literary and jobbing staffs were located in the building next door and the clerical staff in the Somerset building.

1971 The first staff photographer appointed.

August 16, 1975 The Cossar press printed the Guardian for the final time and was donated to the Tinwald Railway and Preservation Society.

March, 2005 Guardian Print takes over the printing of the Timaru Herald in a business deal with Fairfax New Zealand Ltd.

October 12, 2005 The Ashburton Guardian company marked its 125th birthday as a daily newspaper by making a $100,000 donation to the fundraising project for the new Ashburton Trust Performing Arts Theatre.

April 10, 2006 Guardian Print becomes the only South

Island print business to have three daily newspapers rolling off its presses.

paywall, offering its daily news online to subscribers only.

March 31, 2007

July 29, 2013

The latest New Zealand Audit Bureau of Circulation results show the Guardian topped the poll nationally, with an annual circulation growth of 2.69 per cent to March 31, 2007.

The Ashburton Guardian changes its newspaper to a compact format, the first daily newspaper in the South Island to make the change.

August, 2007 Guardian Print installs a heat-set press at the company’s Kermode Street site which allows the company to print on glossy paper.

August 13, 2007 The Ashburton Guardian becomes a daily morning paper in one of the biggest changes in the Guardian’s 127-year history.

October 25, 2008 The Ashburton Guardian moved from its home of more than 100 years at 119 Burnett Street to new offices on level three of Somerset House.

November 1, 2012 The Ashburton Guardian launched its new website www.guardianonline.co.nz, becoming the first daily newspaper in New Zealand to put its news behind a

LOREM IPSUM UNTIL THE WAZYGOOSE

SINCE 1879 For subscriptions call 0800 ASHBURTON or email circulation@theguardian.co.nz www.facebook.com/ashguardian www.guardianonline.co.nz

September 1, 2017 The Ashburton Guardian takes another step into the digital world and launches the new-look Ashburton App. A downloadable application on devices that allows users to receive news, listings and information on the go and allows the business to send important news out to people in an instant. The Selwyn App and the Timaru App soon followed.

April 6, 2018 The Ashburton Guardian is named a finalist in the Newspaper of the Year Award at the elite Voyager Media Awards.

June 22, 2018 The Ashburton Guardian claims the Frank Veale Memorial Award for most improved newspaper at the Community Newspaper Awards among a number of other awards.

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