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Blog Preston is a Community Interest Company seeking to provide community news and information about the city of Preston, Lancashire.

We launched in January 2009. Since then, we have grown to have a readership of around 130,000 unique users a month, while the website is viewed around 500,000 times per month (as of August 2023). We marked 15 years in 2024.

A Community Interest Company means the money made from advertising goes back into reporting on goings-on in the city, from the latest breaking news, to politics, to new openings, community initiatives and charity campaigns – we seek to reflect all that goes on in the city.

Blog Preston is a member of the Independent Press Standards Organisation (which regulates the UK’s magazine and newspaper industry). We abide by the Editors’ Code of Practice and are committed to upholding the highest standards of journalism. If you think that we have not met those standards and want to make a complaint, please contact ed@blogpreston.co.uk. If we are unable to resolve your complaint, or if you would like more information about IPSO or the Editors’ Code, contact IPSO on 0300 123 2220 or visit www.ipso.co.uk

On this page you’ll find more about what we stand for, the history of Blog Preston, who runs it and plenty more.

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Who runs it?

Kate Rosindale, Director and co-editor

Kate Rosindale

Kate is a proud Yorkshire woman who conversely loves the city of Preston. She first came here to study Journalism at the University of Central Lancashire in 2001 to 2004, and returned to live in the city in 2012. Kate balances her time on the Blog with working in IT for a global insurance company. Her focus is What’s On content, and her favourites in the city are The Ferret for gigs, Town House for brunch, Enjoy the Show for live events, and NIKO for drinks. Although genetically a Leeds fan, Kate has adopted PNE and has a season ticket in the Town End. You can follow Kate on Instagram @katerosebud or write to kate@blogpreston.co.uk. See all of Kate’s articles here.

Ed Walker, Founder and co-editor

Ed Walker

Ed started Blog Preston on 11 January 2009 and spent a decade reporting on the city before hanging up his keyboard and pen in summer 2019. He graduated from the University of Central Lancashire with a first-class honours degree in Journalism in 2007 and is now a leader in residence for the university’s journalism department and associate lecturer in journalism innovation. He spent 14 years at Reach PLC, the largest multimedia publishing group in the UK, holding senior roles across its regional news portfolio. Ed is now founder and director of Alma, an audience development consultancy. He lives in Preston with his wife and two children. In 2024, Ed returned as Editor of Blog Preston. You can follow him on X @ed_walker86. His email is ed@blogpreston.co.uk. See all Ed’s articles on Blog Preston.

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Luke Beardsworth, co-editor

Luke Beardsworth

Luke was co-editor of Blog Preston between 2013 to 2018, before leaving to pursue multiple senior roles with Reach PLC. He returned to Blog Preston in 2024 as co-editor. You can follow him on X @lukebeardsworth and his email is luke@blogpreston.co.uk. You can see all of Luke’s articles here.

Our social media

We have a large and very engaged following on social media. We were one of the first Preston organisations to really embrace X (or Twitter as it was then), Facebook and Instagram.

On Facebook, Blog Preston has over 51,000 followers. As well as the Facebook page we have established and helped to establish some very vibrant Facebook groups in the city. These are:

Preston, Lancashire traffic and travel
What’s On In Preston
Fulwood, Preston news and views
Penwortham news and views
Running in and around Preston

On X, we are a verified account, providing the latest news, information and playing an active role in the digital community in the city. We’re @blogpreston and you can follow us there.

On Instagram we both take and regram pictures from in and around the city. We have over 13,000 followers, and you can find us at blog.preston. We have some fantastic contributors who like to share their pictures with us, many of which we then share on our account and also on Facebook and X. We also organise regular in-person events through InstaMeet Preston.

A history of Blog Preston and key events

11 January 2009 – Ed Walker established Blog Preston as a WordPress blog, promising to report on the goings on in the city.

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May 2012 – Part of the Blog’s aim is to have a small community fund we’re able to use to help make things happen in the city, we used this to help Bernie Blackburn put on the Preston Now & Then exhibition. Bernie took nostalgic photos of the city and traced them to where they are now.  You can see all our coverage here.

23 September 2013 – Preston Bus Station has been one of the most covered subjects by us over the years, we’ve even got a whole section dedicated to the building. We were one of the first news outlets to reveal the city’s controversial bus station had been granted listed status, essentially preserving it from demolition.

6 June 2014 – We broke the story of 53 Degrees, the university’s music venue, being earmarked for closure. There were repeated attempts to save it but it is now a conference and events space for the university.

24 August 2014 – The city was in shock as Jonjo Highton was stabbed on his doorstep in Deepdale by a gang of men, we provided extensive coverage of the murder. You can see all our coverage here.

Autumn 2016 – Blog Preston launched a community newspaper for the city, it ran for four issues and was distributed free across the city with a print run of 10,000 copies. Sadly it was unsustainable and we mothballed it after four editions.

November 2019 – Blog Preston played a key role in helping to organise the Big PNE Sleep Out in aid of The Foxton Centre, in conjunction with Preston North End’s Community Trust and Biffa. More than 300 people bedded down at Deepdale for the night on Friday 15 November and raised nearly £100,000 in sponsorship – smashing the target of £50,000.

November 2020 – We revealed the Big PNE Sleep Out’s funds had been able to purchase a house in Ashton-on-Ribble for The Foxton Centre’s Housing First initiative.

What is a Community Interest Company?

A Community Interest Company is halfway between a private limited company and a charity. This means Blog Preston can trade, so we allow adverts to be taken and this funds our journalism. And we have to stick to the core aims outlined when we became a Community Interest Company in January 2014. These are:

  • To report and create online content about the city of Preston to be published via www.blogpreston.co.uk and its associated social media accounts (X, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr and any others which it chooses to use)
  • To involve community contributors across the city to produce content about their local area which may be of interest to their community or the wider community of the city of Preston
  • To work with other community organisations, for example a community radio station or the local university, to report on community events and news
  • To establish a Blog Preston community fund which can help fund community events or projects across the city, such as the sponsoring of a new exhibition about Preston’s history, a community fun day or any other number of worthwhile community initiatives

Contributors:

lisa-mcmanus-new120


Lisa Brown, Writer and Photographer
Lisa is a local writer with a keen interest in the arts, nature and travel. She has been writing for Blog Preston since 2010 and has had work published in national and local publications. Lisa regularly uploads photography to her Facebook and Instagram pages. See all Lisa’s articles here.

Geoffrey Whittaker BSc MA, writer and historian
Geoffrey Whittaker is a freelance writer specialising in history, heritage transport, the environment and tourism support issues. His favourite subject is anything involving steam! Geoffrey lives in Lancashire and has a degree in Media Production and an MA in Photography. He has a weekly slot on Blog Preston, covering the aforementioned subjects, and also runs Hyndburn News. Geoffrey’s photos of Preston are available from Deviant Art. You can see all of Geoff’s stories here.

Charlotte Everett, freelance reporter

Charlotte is a freelance journalist based in Cumbria. She first joined Blog Preston in 2020 while she was studying BA Journalism at the University of Central Lancashire and returned in 2023. Charlotte has worked for multiple national titles writing about a variety of subjects such as news, travel, showbiz, TV, lifestyle and sports. In her spare time she can be found in the gym or walking around the Lakes as well as catching up on the latest TV shows and entertainment news. You can follow Charlotte on X @charleverett4 or send her an email on charlotte.everett@blogpreston.co.uk and see all her stories here.

Sophie Swain, community journalism intern

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Sophie is from Cumbria but is currently in her second year, studying Journalism at UCLan. In her spare time she volunteers for Emmaus Preston, a homelessness charity. She enjoys fashion and going to concerts. Her favourite place in Preston is Avenham Park, where she enjoys going for a walk with her friends. You can follow Sophie on X @sophieswain04 and see all her stories on her author page.

Charlotte Brockbank

Charlotte Brockbank, Advertising and Marketing
Charlotte looks after all the advertising on Blog Preston, working with local businesses to help them reach our audience of Prestonians. She works for a local company doing their marketing across the North West. She’s Preston born and bred. You can email her charlotte@blogpreston.co.uk

James Duffell

James Duffell, Designer and coder
The man who makes the site work, James is the technical whizz behind Blog Preston. He is also a founder of Preston-based web agency 3ManFactory. You can follow him on X @jamesduffell.

Local Democracy stories

You will also see stories on this site by the BBC Local Democracy Reporter for Central Lancashire, Paul Faulkner. Paul is based at the Lancashire Post and you’ll see his stories across multiple titles in the county as he writes for the BBC Local Democracy Reporting Service, which makes stories available about local politics at Preston City Council, South Ribble Borough Council, Chorley Council and Lancashire County Council available for multiple media outlets to use. Blog Preston is approved as a partner organisation to be able to use stories by BBC Local Democracy Reporters on the site. Paul can be found on X @PaulFaulkner2 and you can see all his stories which have appeared on Blog Preston here.

Commenting on the site

We allow comments on Blog Preston and we want the site to act as a voice for the city and a place for local people to have their say about the city and issues relating to it. Before you start commenting we recommend reading our community guidelines.

In memory of Tony Worrall and Paul Swarbrick

We wouldn’t have Blog Preston today if it wasn’t for the support and dedication of the late Tony Worrall and Paul Swarbrick. Both served as directors of the site and also contributed stories, pictures, knowledge and memories to helping Blog Preston establish itself as a place to turn to for information about the city. We owe them a depth of gratitude for everything they did to help and the time they spent chronicling the city.

Paul sadly passed away in December 2017 and we produced a special print edition of Blog Preston for his funeral to say thank you and mark the great legacy he left in nostalgia content about Preston.

Tony passed away in June 2021 and his love of photography, combined with Preston, meant he was one the city’s best known names thanks to his enormous archive on Flickr of the city’s pictures. He also shared these into lots of other social media too. We worked with Tony’s family to support creating an exhibition in the city centre to remember Tony’s work.

The archives of stories written by Tony and Paul remain online and you will still see pictures they’ve taken used around the site – with the permission of their families. We miss them both.

Previous contributors

You may not know but Preston is home to one of the oldest journalism schools in the UK and has seen lots of very talented journalists forge their skills in the city. We’re lucky at Blog Preston to have been able to be a breeding ground for lots of top talent in the media industry and people who are set to do great things in journalism and media.

Those who have contributed to Blog Preston in various roles over the years include Andy Halls, now head of editorial at Sky, Rachel Smith, now court reporter at LancsLive, Olivia Baron, journalist and producer at BBC Business, Anastasia Bates, radio journalist and producer at Sky News, Charlotte Everett, freelance journalist, Danielle Wroe, lifestyle writer at the Mirror, Hannah Bridgeman, community reporter at Lancashire Post, Abigail Beaney, reporter for Clinical Trials Arena at Global Data, Amna Akram, reporter at Hyphen Online.

We’re always keen to hear from people looking to get started in journalism, and we know that for many Blog Preston is a stepping stone to wherever they may end up and we love to help develop journalists of the future too. Get in touch.

Disclaimer

All views on this Blog are those of the authors. If reviews appear they are done off people’s own back, no money or ‘gifts in kind’ take place in return for a favourable review.

All banner images are credited to Tony Worrall

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