IT has been a whirlwind past few days for the eleven-strong editorial staff on the bi-weekly Dumfries and Galloway Standard.
On the back of Dumfries’ Queen of the South football club defeating Aberdeen 4-3 at the weekend to reach the Scottish Cup final for the first time ever, it has been pretty frenzied at the paper.
Led by regional editor, Elizabeth Martin, the paper began with a preview of the semi-final, printing a 12-page supplement in last Friday’s edition. There was also all the promotional paraphernalia associated with cup-tie fever – give-away posters and flags.
On Saturday, a four-strong team – reporters, Colin Paterson, Craig Robertson and John Ballard (on a fans’ coach), plus photographer, Robin Bryden – were at Hampden to capture the thrilling match scenes and post-match celebrations for major coverage in yesterday’s issue and much, much more in the issue coming out tomorrow, which is concentrating on the human interest angles.
Said deputy editor, Iain Pollock: “It’s been a very demanding period, but this is the sort of fairytale running story that every weekly newspaper dreams of. And we are enjoying every minute of it, and, hopefully, quietly a significant boost to our circulation.”
The full-colour bi-weekly tabloid has a combined weekly circulation of around 30,000 copies. The Wednesday issue is usually 40-48 pages, while the Friday one can vary from between 64 to 96 pages.
