Off to a dodgy start, the Melton Times has been at the heart of the biggest events in Melton Mowbray’s modern history.

Andy Plaice became editor in October 1992.

Here he charts its 140-year life in an ever-changing market.

It was not so long ago that a Melton Times village correspondent would put his coat on, stick his freshly typed copy in an envelope and head for the bus stop.

When the bus came along he would hand over his envelope to the driver and go back to the house, where he’d telephone the reporters and proudly announce: “It’s on its way!”

When everything went to plan a young reporter would be despatched to meet the bus at the station and take the envelope, hugging it to his chest all the way back to the office.

Of course, it didn’t always go to plan. This village newsgatherer knew everybody by name and was prone to getting into chit-chat as he returned home from the bus stop.

And sometimes his copy would travel over 50 miles because he had stopped to talk to someone before phoning the office.

It’s a far cry from today’s world of publishing where the boundaries are constantly being pushed back in search of ever quicker means of communication.

From the computer revolution of the late 1980s to the website wonderworld of 1999, more and more gadgets are at our fingertips ensuring your Melton Times reaches you every Thursday.

But although the modern Melton Times journalists work in very different conditions to their 19th century counterparts, they take very seriously the tradition of the newspaper. They are guardians of a publication now 140 years old. A publication that very nearly didn’t survive . . .