This is the final time you will read my observations in a Tuesday edition of The Times.
As of next week, The Times will shift back to Wednesday and Friday publication dates — the days of the week that we used to publish until 2011.
This is a result of our parent company Black Press taking over the Langley Advance, which will now shift to a Thursday-only publishing schedule. Thus readers and advertisers will be served by Langley-wide publications on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday — three days which seem to be popular with readers and advertisers alike.
The Aldergrove Star, which is also owned by Black Press, will continue to publish Thursday. The Star serves the eastern portion of Langley and western Abbotsford.
The Times, which began operations in 1981, started as a Wednesday newspaper. It soon added a Saturday edition. The Saturday publication date was changed to Friday when a third weekly edition on Sundays was added in the 1990s. The Sunday edition continued until 2009.
From a news perspective, Wednesday and Friday editions will allow the news staff additional time to gather and prepare information for readers. We expect that there will be more current news in both editions.
Of course, news and information are constantly being added and updated at langleytimes.com. The Times also is on Facebook and there is often some interesting information there as well.
If you are on Facebook, visit our page and give us a “like.”
The change in publication dates is not the only change at The Times. We welcome a new publisher in Jean Hincks, our former advertising manager, who most recently was publisher of the Burnaby News Leader, which was sold to Glacier Media as part of the transaction which saw The Advance become part of Black Press.
She brings with her a great deal of background and experience in the community newspaper business, in Maple Ridge, Burnaby and here at The Times. She is already very familiar with many people in the community and the issues we face. She will be meeting many more in the months to come.
She is also well-known to staff here, and we look forward to working closely with her once again.
Our former publisher, Dwayne Weidendorf, served in that position since 2006, and was very highly-regarded in the community. He has left to serve as publisher of the Peace Arch News in South Surrey and the Now Newspaper in Surrey, which was also taken over by Black Press last week.
He served the community in many capacities during his time here, in particular the Langley Memorial Hospital Foundation board and the Gateway of Hope Community Council.
He took a keen interest in this community and that will not disappear, as he and his family continue to reside in Langley.
The community newspaper business is changing rapidly due to new technology, but at The Times, we continue to be committed to giving readers the latest about Langley.