After 33 years, it’s time to say farewell. As every ending has a beginning, I’ll start with mine.
I began at the Barrhead Leader not quite at the bottom of the heap, but close, as a typesetter. The paste-up people were probably at the bottom, and they were called paste-up because that’s exactly what they did – pasting up galleys of text and ad copy run off a Compugraphic machine, they used hot wax and very sharp knives to ‘paste’ the paper together. And as I recollect, I did my fair share of paste-up myself. This has always been and still is a position where more then one skill set is required. In fact, the more the better. It is one of the many reasons I’ll miss working here.
Just about every day presented different challenges, and I would have no idea what might be coming down the pike to bedevil me each morning when I walked through the door. But basically, that was a good thing. It gave me the opportunity to tackle different issues and also, to learn all aspects of the newspaper business.
One lesson I learned early was the importance of good staff. Team effort is not just a saying, it is reality in the Leader office. Without long hours and hard work, there wouldn’t be a paper in your mailbox come Tuesday morning. For most of my career I have been blessed with coworkers who are dedicated and believe what they are doing makes a difference. In fact, one of those dedicated people, Lynda Leng, will be taking over the majority of my responsibilities. Lynda has been with the paper for over 30 years so is well positioned to step into my shoes, (so to speak – my shoes leave with me).
I have had many bosses over the span of my career starting with Al Blackmere and Terry Clements, ending with Brian Bachynski and Duff Jamison. However, this has always been a great company to work for, no matter who was signing my pay cheque and I will always appreciate the opportunity I was given to advance my career.
But my true bosses are you, the readers and advertisers. Without your support, week in and week out, this paper would not be able to stay in business. These are challenging times for the newspaper industry, however the support the Barrhead Leader receives from this community is overwhelming and I am grateful to have been here to experience the generosity of this community. After 89 years in business, the Barrhead Leader must be still doing some things right.
So it is with a sad heart I write this farewell column. I will miss everyone I work with including my colleagues from our sister papers, my friends and this generous community. But as you know, there’s always two sides to every story. My husband and I are looking forward to another chapter in our lives, and all that might entail.
Good-bye and thank you all.
