It has been an honour and a privilege to be a part of the local community since November 2008, as the Times has shared in personal triumphs and tragedies, reported on the major issues and fought for services.

In my first year here we underwent a major revamp of the newspaper, which included many sections that are still part of the paper. These include the Times Extra pages in Friday’s edition and a focus on local clubs and groups.

I have always enjoyed it when readers tell me the first thing they turn to on a Friday is On The Pulse. It is often a collaborative effort by our journalists and much fun.

At the start of 2011 we introduced the Travelling Times competition, which exceeded my expectations of getting people to send us photos of themselves with the Times, while travelling.

The idea came from my time as a journalist at Tenterfield where the editor, Lisa Finnerty, ran something similar. I told her in 2009 that I wanted to start it at the Times but didn’t have a name yet. “The Travelling Times,” she replied. Sadly, Lisa died from leukaemia the following year, aged 45, so did not get to see it in the Times.

Personally, I would like to thank Times manager Jenny Baldwin and Barry Potter from Rural Press who gave me the opportunity, and also the journalists who have worked on the paper during my time here.

Since 2013, my role has expanded to include other Fairfax newspapers in the New England region, and I could not have done that without the team here in the newsroom. 

The journalists - Michèle Jedlicka, Steve Green, Naomi Shumack and Simon McCarthy - have often had carry a heavy workload and they have all done a tremendous job.

With Michèle as editor and Steve as senior journalist, I believe the future is bright as they have already shown how capable they are in producing this newspaper.

Thank you to our contributors, who help us do what we couldn’t do on our own, and most of all, thank you to the readers for your support and feedback. 

It is clear the community takes great ownership in the Times and I hope that always remains the case.