A MAN who has been instrumental in the success of the “Crediton Courier” will leave next week for a new challenge.

Sean Constable has been the General Manager at the “Crediton Courier” for the past 15 years, since the newspaper title was acquired by Tindle Newspaper Group.

Sean has been with the “Courier” for 17 years and has worked in the newspaper industry for more than two decades.

In his first ever “real job”, he worked on a local weekly newspaper in Southport, Merseyside as a paste-up page compositor and later at the “Liverpool Daily Post and Echo”, where he became a super-user, doing everything from Apple Mac based page layout, advert design, scanning, pagination, checking plates and everything in between.

At the Liverpool Echo he helped produce some 24 weekly newspapers, six dailies, sport pinks, special publications and property papers.

Sean said he always felt he had a personal bond with those ‘papers.

He said that at that time, “The Echo” was as much a part of the city as football and Merseybeat.

Sean came to the “Courier” in April 2002, and was given the task by Sue Read, the then owner and proprietor, to bring the paper into the 21st century whilst maintaining the ethos and appeal of the paper, no mean feat!

He lead the “Courier” in modernising the infrastructure and technology, and has always been the “go-to” person for advice and assistance.

Sue Read said: “Seán came to us just when we needed him, as happened so often with those who joined the ‘Courier’.

“His letter came shortly before Easter that year, he called to see us the week after Easter - and began working with us the next week.

“He taught us so much about how to use our Macs to create the page layouts our Arthur Sharp was trying to show us.

“We learned how to nudge, to fit the pictures, and it was Seán who saw us through the transition from pasting up pages on paper to doing it all on the desktop and sending them via email, watching the pages drop into someone else’s computer miles away.

“His experience of working on bigger newspapers was invaluable and his knowledge saw us through lots of the little problems you get when you know what you want to do but unsure how to do it. A cry would go up: ‘Seannn’.

“He has helped numerous folk quietly over the years. He will leave a big hole and we wish him loads of fun and success in his new life.

“The Urban Dictionary says: ‘Sean is a person who will never fail to make you laugh. He is caring and is always willing to help others’, which pretty much sums him up. Thank you lots and great big hugs to you and your family.”

Alan Quick, “Courier” Editorial Manager, added: “I cannot express how much Sean’s work has been of benefit to the newspaper and the community.

“He led, for example, the transition of the ‘Courier’ from a fortnightly to a weekly title, which while making more work for the staff, secured the ‘paper’s position as the town newspaper, just what the readers and advertisers wanted.

“We will all miss him and wish him well for the future”.

Simon Parsonson, Tindle Newspapers regional manager, commented: “The success of the ‘Crediton Courier’ for the past 15 years would not have been possible without the huge efforts, skills and leadership of Sean.”

Sean added: “I hope readers will agree that although the ‘paper now looks aesthetically very different to how it did when I started 17 years ago.

“It has maintained its passion for local news, people and places, and always upheld the original ideals set out by Sue Read et al some 45 years ago.

“I will miss being at the ‘Crediton Courier’ and will look back with fondness at my time there; the people I have met in the community, those I’ve had the pleasure to have worked with, the challenges and triumphs, the thrill of a deadline and the sense of being part of something bigger than myself will stay with me forever.”

Sean has been a volunteer with the Samaritans for two years and recently became a volunteer therapist at the Margaret Jackson Centre in Exeter.

His new role will see him become a Community Team Business Administrator for the Devon Partnership Trust in the NHS at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital.