The Northern Echo Weekend Memories, The Northern Echo
It is packed with old pictures and amazing stories which often arise from its phenomenal reader interaction. Its appeal is that its stories may come from down your very own road and yet they are strong enough to fascinate a much wider audience. Memories 615 shows this: a fabulous story about a monkey in a pub that kissed customers and, yes, slipped in its tongue; a daring wartime escape from a plane flown upside down; a brilliantly tall tale about a wild boar, and finally, greatest of all, a champion racing pigeon that had been found stuffed 125 miles from home 110 years after its triumphs. These old stories come to life in Memories. The wild boar tale inspired children to create artwork for a bus shelter while the racing pigeon story led to descendants of the bird’s trainers travelling great distances for a gathering in the pub closest to its coup where a plaque now notes its achievements alongside a framed copy of the article. This story, 10 years in the making, is to feature in a film, and a couple of other Memories stories this year have made it onto regional television. Memories 602 was last year’s Remembrance edition and contains a list of Second World War victims who it believes should be on a town’s war memorial. This follows the previous year’s list of missing First World War names and, having enthused the local MP and the chief executive of the hospital trust, we are very hopeful that these people who gave their lives will be included in the annual service this year for the first time. Readers, who provide so much of the content, love Memories – the Saturday paper is 50p more expensive than the weekday papers but sales are 16 per cent higher and the year-on-year sales performance is 2.2 per cent better. Plus advertisers like it: Memories 642, while it doesn’t showcase the writing which is at the heart of Memories, is a 44-page picture-led special which gained more than £7,000 in additional revenue. On-line, Memories’ daily articles are behind the strictest paywall but drive subscriptions. Beyond that, Chris Lloyd, who researches, writes and lays out the supplement, gives two illustrated talks a week to community groups, promoting the paper. A couple of his guided walks this summer had more than 150 attendees each, and until recent BBC changes, he had a 30-minute weekly slot on local radio in which he regaled listeners with his stories and kept the paper’s name alive on the airwaves. Memories is dabbling in its own Facebook pages and YouTube channel. Memories is the epitome of quality local journalism at its best: it is immersed in its community, recording and celebrating its past while improving its future. It engages and entertains its readers, indeed it's audience, while raising revenue for its parent company.