THIS week we are launching Holding Our Community Together, our campaign to raise awareness about the impact made by your local newspaper every week.

After the last 18 months have disrupted everyday life in ways few of us could have imagined, we remain proud about the positive difference our brand has made during the pandemic and successive lockdowns.

Just as we have done for generations, we have reported on life in our area through the bad times and the good.

With people reading our website and following our title and its staff on social media, we are reaching more people than ever before.

Nobody understands our community like your trusted local newspaper, so we wanted to shout about the difference we make.

We take pride in the reach, audience engagement and editorial coverage we deliver and the impact we make each week in the area we serve.

During the pandemic, we have continued to publish, despite having staff on furlough and the rest working from home, to bring you all the latest news.

We have kept you up-to-date with the latest COVID figures and the advice from the government and local health authorities; we have brought you some wonderful stories of the amazing fundraising efforts undertaken by members of our community to raise money for the National Health Service; and we have remembered those who were sadly taken from us.

Having published news in this area since 1856, we can confidently say nobody understands our community, their strengths and challenges, like us.

As well as holding deep local knowledge, we occupy an unrivalled position celebrating the achievements of our people and holding to account those in authority when questions need to be raised for the public interest.

We can point to the unique ways we have led the public response to important local issues. This includes our recent campaign to try and get free parking extended in our council-run car parks, to give an extra boost to local businesses as they recover from the ravages of the lockdowns.

But we are not here just to report on the problems we have faced. Our brand is built on reporting stories about local people, whether it is the everyday milestones in their lives or their extraordinary achievements.

The good news stories we have enjoyed sharing with you recently include fundraising heroes, cycling hundreds of miles for charity; the return of community groups; and a plea for a paramedic.

The world has changed and continues to change, yet we are proud of the unique place we hold in local life.

The Post brings you all the latest news you want to know, some great features, puzzles, a letters page, columns from your MPs and the other political parties, community and schools columns, nostalgia, and the best local sports coverage in the South West.

We are grateful for your continued support and look forward to sharing all the important news for our community, both in your trusted weekly newspaper or on our website, as we rebuild from the shock of the pandemic.

Most of all, we will value the unique place we hold in the community, reporting on local life as a trusted voice for you. Thank you for supporting us as we carry on, holding our community together.

Nigel Walrond,

Editor