It was Wingham's well-known community spirit which led to the relaunch of the Wingham Chronicle 31 years ago on August 5, 1987, instigated by the late John Doust, general manager of  the Manning River Times.

After the 100 year-old independent Wingham Chronicle had been sold and incorporated into a Taree/Forster/Wingham free paper, the powers that be were well aware that a movement was afoot to launch the town's own voice as an independent paper again.

I was privileged to return home from a newspaper in Sydney to manage and edit the new 'old' paper for Regional Publishers.

The township got behind the paper with gusto and the paid circulation was well above expectation. Awards for the small town paper came thick and fast and to quote a former Manning River Times editor, Bob Baird, we had the advantage on people stories! The Wingham Chronicle was called upon plenty of times to punch above its weight and we can all look back with pride at the promotion of events like Beef Week which put Wingham on the map.

Clubs and correspondents offered support and boosted the staff of two. Almost every business in town advertised, whether they needed to or not. We all remember Bruce McCullagh and his self-imposed 'one-eyed' attitude! Every birth, death and marriage got a mention in Town Talk and wonderful contributors all added their bit to their very popular local paper. Memories of the late Lorraine Simpson and her footy report, Laura West's cooking column and  history buff Evelyn Boyce live on in print. There are so many names of honorary contributors –  like our super sleuth Cynthia Davies with Town Talk and hats off to Pam Muxlow, the longest serving member of the team still hangs in there.

The Chronicle endeavoured to record every relevant  news item and event on the 'smell of an oily rag'. It couldn't have been done without the friends of the Chronicle. You all know who you are and I was grateful to every single one. However it wasn't all work like the morning teas with Laura testing recipes before publication - it was fun working with the Chronicle family.

They were the good old days, to borrow the adage of the Wingham Chronicle and Manning River Observer's early editor, Fitz 'o Wingham, whose writings helped cement the admirable town pride, albeit slightly parochial, of which we all can all attest to.

There have been changes of ownership, thus policy and management style of the Chronicle in the last 31 years. From Regional Publishers and Rural Press where the management was hands-on and 'family' oriented came the move with Fairfax which may have saved some of Rural Press mastheads, but cuts on cuts and redundancies have been the name of the game to compensate for the loss of the 'rivers of gold' classifieds to the digital age. 

As part of a huge media conglomerate, if the recent merger proposal were to go ahead,  the Wingham Chronicle and many small country newspapers may be a thing of the past. Will it be a case of not missing it until it's gone? A relaunch would not be as easy as in the past.

The way I look at it, by supporting the town's paper with news tips, photos and definitely advertising, and  becoming part of the Chronicle family and readership will make it strong and viable, which might just be enough to keep the wolf from the door.