History factfile

• Johnston Press has a number of firsts under its belt. It was the first newspaper to receive the coveted Investors in People standard, which it achieved in December 1993. It also owns the first British local weekly newspaper to carry a cover mounted gift. The newspaper was the Grantham Journal and the gift was a model aircraft to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Britain.

But it wasn’t all rosy.

Les Chester was editor between 1953-1980 and in 1984 he wrote about his time at the paper: “Not until I took over in 1953 was a new typewriter, or even an adding machine for the

accounts staff to enter Nottingham Street.

“Owing to the aged machinery, breakdowns and stoppages were not infrequent and I was always grateful for the way the small businesses of the town,

electrical and mechanical, gave us priority in repair.”

He also wrote of the mind games he would play with the board of directors in order to get cheques signed and the printers’ strike of 1959 which cut short his holiday.