End of an era for Times-Age staff | Wairarapa News | Local News in Wairarapa

"WE'VE been the backbone of the newspaper ? the last to see it and the first to get the complaints back," said the group of 26 collators and wrappers who are among the team of 35 people who end their jobs at the Wairarapa Times Age today.

Also leaving are seven members of the press crew and two from the plateroom.

Marking the end of a printing era in Wairarapa going back 66 years with the Times-Age, the newspaper will now be printed by The Print Place in Wanganui, which also prints the Wanganui Chronicle and the Horowhenua-Kapiti Chronicle.

The team of collators and wrappers are presently an all-women crew. They put the newspaper into bundles, include any inserts and wrap them in plastic.

Supervisor Lyn Gordon has been with the newspaper for seven years. The longest-serving member of their team is Elizabeth Nichols who, within her 29-year service, remembers many a storm, which has made delivery of the newspapers difficult but never impossible. She understood that after the Wahine storm in 1968 the newspaper could not get to homes until the next day.

Mrs Nichols recalls when the newspaper had a first and second edition and when 15-hour days were often the norm when things got really busy. One of the biggest changes she noticed was the amount of "outwork" ? material printed by the Wairarapa Times-Age for customers such as real estate agents and supermarkets ? and the increased number of advertising supplements.

Many of her colleagues are "sad for Wairarapa" that another service is moving out of the region but are philosophical about the need to change with the times.

Times-Age general manager Russell Broughton said redundancies are always a sad affair but the move to out-of-region printing is a decision based purely on logic. Many of the country's newspapers print off-site and share presses with other newspapers.

And, what does all this mean to readers and advertisers?

The Times-Age press is unable to offer the versatility and colour capabilities needed to satisfy the demands of commercial clients and the increasing requirements of advertisers seeking more colour in their local newspaper, editor Dave Saunders said.

The new press offers that change and readers should notice it immediately, he said. The Times-Age will still hit the streets around noon, except Saturdays when it will be earlier, and it will still contain a good mix of local, national and international news.