THIS week we launched 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.

We were there with you during the pandemic.

Under our campaign heading ‘We are in this together’ we ran weekly round-ups of help that was available as our amazing South Hams community spirit led to the founding of foodbanks to help those in need and we highlighted the groups and individuals who went the extra mile to make sure the housebound received food and supplies.

Community is a word that took on a new meaning as Guardian Angel groups connected the shielding and vulnerable in our communities and united neighbours changing the whole way we interacted with our neighbours.

We stood on our doorsteps alongside you and applauded their fantastic work ethic that has helped us to get where we are today with the pandemic.

Having published news for more than 130 years 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.

We have closely followed the Save Totnes MIU Campaign and given voice to their concerns about possibly losing their precious community hospital.

Concerns about the number of new homes being built around South Hams towns have been aired on our pages.

We have covered many storie about the loss of habitat to over development in your areas and the communites care for our AONB. We have been careful to give both sides of those storie a chance to have their say to keep readers informed.

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:

The incredible amounts the community has raised for charitable causes close to your, such as the NHS, Marie Curie, Brain Cancer Research, Dame Hannah Rogers trust and the RNLI.

We’re there to record your successes. After all the pandemic disruption we were delighted to record our pupils’ GCSE and A-Level successes.

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

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.