One week to go until Observer relaunch

From next Thursday (October 4), your favourite local paper will be in an easy-to-read compact format.

All the old favourites will remain, and we will continue to carry unparalleled coverage of local news and sport.

But there will be lots of new features, too, in a 128-page bumper edition.

We are taking the opportunity to refresh a lot of the content.

We haven’t taken these changes lightly.

Readers’ views

Last year, we asked readers what they liked about the Observer – and what they disliked.

An overwhelming number of readers of the three newspapers in the series – the Chichester Observer, the Bognor Regis Observer and the Midhurst and Petworth Observer – said they loved the content... but that the paper was just too big to handle.

So we listened, went away to work on a new-style Observer – and next week, you will see the results.

We are very excited by the new look, and we think you’ll like it, too.

But we need YOU to get involved.

Features

We have several new features which require your input to make them work. Features such as:

It’s Your Shout – every week, a reader will be invited to write about something which really gets under their skin. If you’d like a go at being a columnist for a week and speaking out, get in touch – email 
the address in the panel on the right, or write to us.

Animal Magic – a page dedicated to you and your pets, including advice from a vet and cute photographs. So send us your pictures.

Snap Happy – a page of YOUR pictures. Send us a snap of a birthday party – whether it’s a 100th birthday, a 90th birthday or a first birthday, we’re interested. Or it could be wedding photo, or a wedding anniversary celebration... anything.

Again, the addresses appear in the panel on the right.

Nostalgia – we’ll be publishing four pages of our weekly stroll down memory lane. What are your memories of the area? Do you have recollections or pictures of yesteryear you’d like to share? Get in touch.

Get in touch

The size of the pages may be smaller, but there will be extra pages – lots of them – so we can bring you everything you already love about the Observer, and add a whole lot more.

Don’t think the changes are done and dusted. If there’s something YOU want to see included, get in touch. It’s YOUR paper – so help us shape its content week after week.

The rising cost of producing the Observer has, unfortunately, meant we have to increase the price from next week to 75p.

We have delayed putting up the price for as long as we can, but at least we can add extra value to the Observer. When I told someone locally we had to put the price up, he shrugged and said 75p these days gets you half a cup of coffee, or a chocolate bar, or a can of fizzy drink – and that the Observer was better than any of them!

We will be offering a subscription to buy the paper for a year at today’s price, though, to offset the increase. Details will appear next week.

The Observer is already one of the most popular and best-read weekly newspapers in the country.

We want to make it even better – and we need your help to do it.