DESPITE what you may have heard elsewhere, we have had no new staff at the Courier for more than six months.

The last new employee at the office at 102 High Street, Crediton was Sales Executive Kim Woods who has taken over from Becky Lund Harket who has left the area.

We still have your usual, friendly staff at the office including Sue Read, who was a co-founder and former editor of the Courier.

Alan Quick is Editorial Manager, and has been a mainstay of the local newspaper for over 30 years.

Sean Constable has been General Manager for more than 3 years and before that was Design and Production Manager for the Courier for five years prior to taking over the general day-to-day running of the paper.

Carol Furze has been working the front office and providing a friendly face for visitors to the office for more than 12 years now.

Sub Editor, Arthur Sharp has been making sure we don't make any major mistakes for the last 25 years too.

Nick Cran, Advertising Designer and Production Assistant has been working with Sean to lay out the Courier for the last three years along with Nora Parminter who has been a photojournalist with us for the past three years also.

We know where the rumours of the staff take-over have come from, but would like to re-assure our readers and advertisers that you can be confident that the Courier is still run by local people for the benefit of and in the best interests of our readers in Crediton and surrounding villages.