A NEWS editor will write his last story today, Friday, as he waves farewell to the Leigh Journal.

Brian Gomm began his career as a trainee journalist on a five-year apprenticeship at the former Tyldesley office on August bank holiday 1970, and has worked for the paper or its sister titles ever since.

Brian had been working as a dustbin man for Tyldesley Council until his dad pestered him into applying for a job at the Journal, where he has done everything from deliver papers to stay up all night for elections since.

“My dad, a manual worker all his life who had his own coal round at the age of 14, wanted a better life for me and when an ad for a junior journalist appeared in the Journal, they pestered me into applying for it,” he said.

“I was comfortable on the bin round and they were worried I might stay there. I had always enjoyed writing, so I thought it was worth a go and the wage when fully qualified in those days meant you were earning as much as a teacher or a policeman.”

Brian, who lives in Tyldesley, will spend his retirement tending to his motorbikes, animals and Fergie tractor, while hopefully making a living moving stuff in his van and ‘doing a bit of wheeling and dealing’.

The 62-year-old added: “I would like to thank all those people who have been loyal friends and made my life at the Journal easier than it might otherwise have been. I’ve had some great colleagues and met remarkable people whose stories have made the Journal what it is.

“There are too many special people to mention, but you all know who you are – thanks a million – and long may the Journal continue to lead in Leigh, Tyldesley and Atherton.”

So long, it's been good to know you...