Blog Preston’s editor and founder is to step down after a decade.

A new duo of directors will take on the hyperlocal site and social media feeds.

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Ed Walker is to move into a non-executive role with the Community Interest Company after 10 years of serving as editor of the site he founded in January 2009.

Rachel Smith and Kate Rosindale, who both write for Blog Preston at present, are going to take on the direction of the company, and be co-editors, and service its readership of 180,000 unique users per month.

Ed said: “Seeing the Blog grow from being a small site to becoming a household name in Preston has been very satisfying.

“It’s been a privilege to report so extensively on the city and see the changes for the last decade, and certainly a lot has changed.

“Due to changes in my personal and professional life, and with Blog Preston reaching a record audience in July with 892,000 views, I felt it was a good time to hand over the site to someone new.

“I think a lot of people don’t realise I work full-time, so Blog Preston has always been an additional thing that’s done on top, and I have a family who, if I’m honest, I haven’t always put first due to the demands of Blog Preston as it’s rapidly expanded in audience size and scale.”

Kate and Rachel will take on day-to-day running of Blog Preston from early September.

Ed continued: “I’d like to thank everyone who has contributed, liked, shared or even talked about Blog Preston.

“I feel we have a close connection with our readership and that’s allowed us to ensure we’re often first to stories in the city.

“I’m especially proud of how we’ve been able to grow the contributor base over the years, and re-invest the money made in advertising into community reporting with paid shifts.

“It is great that Rachel and Kate have agreed to take on Blog Preston. They are both talented writers, know Preston and will do a superb job at taking Blog Preston forward.”

Read more: Blog Preston celebrates 10 years with Foxton Centre fundraising launch

Kate, who is a UCLan journalism graduate working in IT, has been writing for Blog Preston in her spare time for 18 months.

Kate said: “I’m a proud Yorkshirewoman, but when I came to Preston in 2001 for a UCLan open day I just clicked with the place.

“Now to be taking on such an important part of the community in Blog Preston is amazing. Ed has grown the site from nothing through pure passion and dedication, and I’m really grateful to him for handing over the reins to Rachel and me.

“I’m excited to see what the future holds for Blog Preston and I hope our readers are too.”

Rachel, who is an NCTJ qualified journalist, spent 14 years working in local news before going freelance in 2015. She now writes for local and national press and has been writing for Blog Preston since October last year.

Rachel said: “When Ed first approached me to write for Blog Preston he described it as ‘old fashioned journalism, with modern technology.’ That really appealed to me.

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“Ed has done a fantastic job of growing Blog Preston into a trusted news source which really reflects the community we serve.

“I’d like to thank Ed for giving me the opportunity to take on the running of the site and look forward to working with Kate.”

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