AFTER 250 years spent delivering the news to our readers' doorsteps, the Essex Chronicle has been handed a prestigious civic award.
Chelmsford mayor Bob Villa, on behalf of Chelmsford City Council, handed Chronicle senior editor Paul Dent-Jones the award at the council's Showcase for Business event.
"I was delighted and immensely proud to receive this award on behalf of one of the oldest newspapers in the country," said Paul.
"For a quarter of a millennium Chronicle reporters have been holding the powers-that-be to account and striving to inform the city of goings-on from all corners of society.
"Fast forward to today, and that mentality hasn't changed. I'm very grateful to the city council for the recognition, which places us alongside some fantastic individuals and businesses who have scooped the same award historically."
The newspaper first graced Chelmsford in the form of a four-page newsletter in 1764, 24 years before The Times was printed, after bookseller William Strupar put quill to paper.
It was handmade in his Chelmsford High Street shop and served most of the Home Counties, covering everything from world wars and the moon landing, to local fundraisers and football, before evolving into the multimedia business that survives today.
In 2012 the paper, one of the oldest businesses in the county, rallied behind the council to push for Chelmsford's eventual city status.
Cllr Villa said: "Local economies evolve and businesses come and go, so to have a 250-year-old business still here in Chelmsford is truly unique. And what could be more appropriate than recognising this at the Chelmsford City Showcase for Business event which has the theme of "Get Connected" – connecting people and business is something that this business does extremely well.
He added: "So with this in mind, it gave me great pleasure to ask Paul to accept the civic award in acknowledgment of the Essex Chronicle's 250 years of journalism, providing news to the local community of Chelmsford and beyond."
Previous winners of the civic award include multiple sclerosis sufferer and health campaigner Susie Cornell MBE, prolific sandwich manufacturer Raynor Foods, art teacher Lynne Timmington, and the late disability campaigner Daphne Race MBE.
