Fifteen years ago, a vision to create a way for Londonderry residents to obtain local information they needed – soccer registration dates, for example – led to the first issue of the Londonderry Times.
What began in the basement of the Londonderry home of Deb and Chris Paul has blossomed through the past decade and a half into three weekly newspapers crammed full of news, sports, features, photos and advertising, with a staff of 15, a newspaper office based in an historic local building, and an unwavering commitment to focus on everything local.
Under the auspices of their company, Nutfield Publishing, the Pauls and their staff, all Southern New Hampshire folk, put out three newspapers – each different – every week. The Londonderry Times started in 2000 as a monthly, went to twice-a-month publication two years later and to weekly two years after that. The weekly Nutfield News in Derry started in 2004, and the weekly Tri-Town Times for Hampstead, Chester and Sandown began in 2005. All are free, and mailed to every home and business, thanks to the support of advertisers.
At a time when newspapers are expected to go the way of the dinosaur and people claim no one reads anymore, the Londonderry Times and its two sister publications are going strong, even as other newspapers cut the number of days a week they publish, slash the number of pages in each edition or put everything online.
We report on town and school district activities, official and otherwise; good news is highlighted, along with less happy stories; sports teams get detailed coverage; and it’s not unusual for news stories to appear first in one of the Nutfield papers, well before other news media can produce a report.
How is that? Everyone at the newspaper is dedicated to producing a quality product, caring what it looks like and what it says, and recognizing that timeliness and accuracy are the hallmarks of what a newspaper offers its readers.
But the bottom line, of course, is the same as it was 15 years ago – providing a place for local residents to obtain information they need about their community, whether it’s a school play or an update on how tax dollars are being spent. What’s going on in Concord or in Washington, D.C., or abroad is available elsewhere, mostly online. But if it happens in one of our towns, you should expect to read about it in our newspapers. And we always like getting news tips.
Stop in at 2 Litchfield Road in Londonderry to say hello as we mark our 15th anniversary. We’re here for you.