As 2021 starts to wind down in to the festive season, I thought it might be the right time to reflect on another ‘interesting’ year, full of ups and downs, but we are still here. Which is probably about the best we can hope for after the last couple of years.
Starting 2021 with the though in my head that it couldn’t possibly get any worse then 202, we started the year with a bang, personally, I wrote the first draft of my book, The Uncommon, which is now available, so I definitely ticked a personal goal off the list this year.
The year started off normally enough, but it wasn’t long before the news industry faced its first crisis, the great Facebook shutdown of news pages in a showdown with the Federal government. As a small independent publication we feel like we just get swept around in the sea in these events, little to no impact when events like this happen, but thankfully it was all short lived.
Then we got weather events, the return of COVID restrictions and more impacts on our business when our printing factory unexpectedly closed.
We were forced into change, going to fortnightly, and amalgamating Lithgow and Bathurst together which was a risky proposition, but one we believed in and thankfully, so has our readership.
The new and I believe improved publication has been a hit with our audience, despite some early resistance due to the TV guide going missing.
We have some big plans for 2022, and look forward to continuing to bring the community all the news worth celebrating.
So from Kellie and myself and the rest of the Central West Village Voice team, I’d like to wish all our readers, advertisers and the broader community a safe and restful festive season. We will see you all in January.
Our first publication back will be 20 January 2022.
