The Sentinel (Staffordshire)
 The Sentinel logo | |
| Type | Daily newspaper Monday to Saturday |
|---|---|
| Format | Tabloid |
| Owner(s) | Daily Mail and General Trust |
| Publisher | Northcliffe Media |
| Editor | Mike Sassi |
| Staff writers | John Abberley, Alan Cookman, Mike Wolfe, John Woodhouse, Martin Tideswell |
| Founded | 7 January 1854 (possibly earlier) |
| Political alignment | Nonpartisan |
| Language | English |
| Headquarters | Sentinel House, Etruria, Stoke-on-Trent, United Kingdom |
| Circulation | 61,910[1] |
| Website | http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/ |
The Sentinel is a daily regional newspaper circulating in the North Staffordshire and South Cheshire area. It is currently owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust under the Northcliffe Media publishing group and based at Sentinel House, Etruria Stoke-on-Trent.
It is is sixth biggest-selling regional newspaper in the UK and is the only newspaper delivering daily news and features on professional football clubs Stoke City, Port Vale and Crewe Alexandra.
The publication, which became a morning paper in March 2009[2], is printed from Monday to Saturday and has three editions daily – a main edition, a Cheshire edition and a Staffordshire Moorlands edition.
Circulation Area
The Sentinel’s patch includes the six towns of The Potteries (Hanley, Burslem, Tunstall, Fenton, Longton and Stoke), Newcastle-under-Lyme, Leek, Cheadle, Cheddleton, Crewe, Nantwich, Alsager, Sandbach, Stafford, Stone, Biddulph, Congleton and Eccleshall.[3]
The paper enjoys a circulation of around 60,000[4].
Content
The major local news story of the day is carried on the front page. There is a brief summary of UK and international news on page four - with the remainder of the content given over to local news, sport and features. The newspaper carries small summaries of local court cases for minor offences, while more major or unusual crimes often have a story to themselves. There are generally at least two letters pages as well as a section for announcements and advertisements by local people and businesses.
The Sentinel differs from many regional newspapers in that it receives a huge amount of correspondence from readers.
Long-standing supplements mark the different days of the week. For example, there may be a pull-out section on local jobs available or a 'Nostalgia' section, the 'Sentinelle' (the focus on fashion and shopping etc) or an 'Entertainment/what's on' guide.
There is a TV listing for the day's viewing and on Saturdays there is a listing for the week ahead.
There are regular reviews of various television programmes, theatre productions and restaurants, amongst other things such as video games and films.
The Sentinel's website includes many of the stories available in the paper, as well as a comments box for each story.
Community ethos
The unique awards and events The Sentinel organises are aimed at fostering community spirit and championing its circulation area of North Staffordshire and South Cheshire.
These include the City of Stoke-on-Trent Sports Awards [5], the annual Our Heroes community awards in conjunction with Britannia [6] , Stoke's Top Talent - a variety contest organised in conjunction with The Regent theatre [7], the Class Act awards for schools and colleges which is sponsored by Barclays and the Young Journalist Awards which the newspaper organises in conjunction with Staffordshire University.
All manner of local celebrities support The Sentinel's community events - including, among others, TV personalities Nick Hancock, Anthea Turner and Wendy-Turner Webster, stage star Jonathan Wilkes, Potteries entertainer Pete Conway, Potteries football icons Robbie Earle, Mark Bright, John Rudge and Lou Macari, World Cup-winning England goalkeeper Gordon Banks, Olympic hockey gold-medallist Imran Sherwani and former England test batsman Kim Barnett.
Columnists
The Sentinel has a stable of popular columnists including John Abberley, a Potter born and bred, who has been a journalist for more than 60 years. Other columnists are Alan Cookman, ascerbic TV critic John Woodhouse, local historian Fred Hughes and former elected Mayor Mike Wolfe as well as another Potter - Martin Tideswell - who is often the public face of the newspaper and appeared in pantomime at The Regent theatre in Hanley in Christmas 2009 alongside his pal, stage star Jonathan Wilkes.
Sports columnists include former Port Vale player and ITV football pundit Robbie Earle and former Manchester United star and Stoke City manager Lou Macari.
May un Mar Lady
May un Mar lady is a comic strip written in Potteries dialect that first appeared on 8 July 1986 in the North Staffordshire Evening Sentinel and has been a local institution for a quarter of a century. The full twenty-year run (7,000 strips) of cartoonist Dave Follows' daily cartoon strip is being republished in The Sentinel, as May un Mar Lady Revisited.
Sentinel columnist Alan Cookman described the comeback as: “The most exciting homecoming since Stanley Matthews returned to Stoke from his footballing adventure with Blackpool.”
Other publications
In addition to The Sentinel, journalists at The Sentinel’s headquarters also produce The Advertiser series of weekly newspapers, The Post & Times series of weekly newspapers, a hugely-popular bygones supplement called "The Way We Were" and the glossy, monthly North Staffordshire Magazine.
History
1854 The Staffordshire Sentinel and Commercial and General Advertiser was first published as a Liberal weekly newspaper from offices in Cheapside, Hanley, on January 7. The publisher was Hugh Roberts, the Editor Thomas Phillips, a former Northampton bookseller and printer. One of the objects of the publishers was to campaign for the incorporation of Hanley, but news of the whole pottery district was contained in its columns. The initial price was 3d.
1872 The circulation of the Sentinel had increased to 5,000 copies weekly with 90 agents covering the whole of North Staffordshire and part of Cheshire.
1873 The Staffordshire Daily Sentinel was introduced at a halfpenny on Tuesday, April 15, publishing daily editions from Monday to Friday, with the Weekly Sentinel, at two pence, continuing to appear on Saturday. The Sentinel was the first daily paper to be published in the Potteries.
1874 A new site in Foundry Street, Hanley, having been acquired for the Daily Sentinel the issue of July 24, was the first to be published from the new office. The town of Stoke-upon-Trent received its charter of incorporation as a borough.
1878 The Weekly Sentinel was enlarged and many new features introduced. Extra supplements were published. The eight pages were 25 inches in depth and there were seven columns to each page. The price remained at 2d.
1884 The first Saturday edition of the Daily Sentinel was introduced on January 5, and on subsequent Saturdays considerable space was devoted to sport, particularly football.
1888 The circulation of all papers produced at the Foundry Street office was given as six million copies yearly and it was estimated that the Daily Sentinel found its way into the hands of 100,000 persons each day.
1892 The Staffordshire Daily Post was founded by Unionist interests in opposition to the Sentinel. Mr T. W. Twyford head of the famous firm of sanitary potters, and a Liberal who joined up with the Unionists in opposition to home rule, was its leading promoter.
1896 After the Post had sustained heavy losses Mr Twyford approached the Sentinel proprietors and suggested a merger on the basis that the Sentinel should shed its political partisanship and become a paper for all the people.
1897 The merger having been completed, a new company was set up with Mr T. W. Twyford as Chairman, Mr. William Moody as Managing Director, Mr T. Bullock, Mr Arthur Heath and Mr James Heath. The Sentinel was now styled an independent newspaper. New offices had been built on the existing site and new machinery installed.
1898 The new company was registered as the Staffordshire Sentinel Ltd.
1900 The Sentinel Cup football competition was inaugurated for the youth of the district. (Later the Sentinel Shield was added for younger footballers and a junior cricket competition was inaugurated in 1906)
1917 Because of rising costs the price of the Daily Sentinel was raised to a penny in March and the Weekly Sentinel to 1 |d.
1918 After the Minnie Pit disaster, in which 160 lives were lost in January, the Sentinel launched an appeal with a donation of its own.
1926 The general strike. The Sentinel ceased publication for several days, but later produced single sheet emergency editions.
1928 In July the acquisition of the Sentinel by Associated Newspapers Ltd. was announced. Mr John Cowley became Chairman of the company. (Later Chairmen were successively Mr A. McWhirter. Mr John Thomson and Mr J. S. Wallwork. The merger did not affect local control over policy).
1929 The title of the company was changed to Staffordshire Sentinel Newspapers Ltd. On February 4 news appeared on the front page for the first time. A big office reconstruction scheme was launched.
1937 Virtual completion of the reconstruction of the Sentinel offices on the existing site. This was the third building to be erected there.
1939-1945 Second World War. The outbreak of war was published in a special Sunday edition of the Evening Sentinel on September 3. The "buff" edition containing early morning racing news which had been published since early in the century was discontinued. During the war newspaper sales had to be pegged to the pre-war circulation figure which was in excess of 78,000 copies a night. Newsprint restrictions reduced the size of the paper by degrees to four pages a night, and these restrictions continued for some time after the end of hostilities. Many members of the Sentinel staff served with the Forces both at home and overseas.
1986 Having moved from Cheapside to Foundry Street in 1939, the presses and staff were all on the move again in 1986 - to the purpose built current site at Etruria - the original site of Josiah Wedgwood’s Etruria factory.
1988 The format of the newspaper changed to tabloid as late as October 15, 1988. While many local people still refer to the paper as “The Evening Sentinel”, the word “Evening” was dropped from the title during the mid-1990s.
1998 The Sentinel’s website: www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk was launched.
2005 In December Mike Sassi, who had been Editor of the Lincolnshire Echo for six years, succeeded Sean Dooley as Editor-in-Chief of Staffordshire Sentinel Newspapers.
2007 The broadsheet Sentinel Sunday ceased production in 2007.[8]
2007 The name Staffordshire Sentinel News & Media replaced Staffordshire Sentinel Newspapers to reflect the group’s focus on all forms of media – specifically the growing demand for its online services.
References
- ^ Profile at holdthepage.co.uk
- ^ Stoke Sentinel makes switch to overnight priniting pressgazette.co.uk
- ^ Towns covered by The Sentinel thisisstaffordshire.co.uk
- ^ Profile at holdthepage.co.uk
- ^ Sports Personality of the Year Awards thisisstaffordshire.co.uk
- ^ Our Heroes thisisstaffordshire.co.uk
- ^ Stoke's Top Talent thisisstaffordshire.co.uk
- ^ Axe falls on the Sentinel Sunday pressgazette.co.uk
External links
- Newspaper Report for the publication at the nsdatabase
- The Sentinel's Port Vale news and fan site www.thewonderofyou.co.uk
- The Sentinel's Crewe Alex news and fan site www.superalex.co.uk
- The Sentinel's Stoke City news and fan site www.whydelilah.co.uk
- The Sentinel's coverage of business news in Staffordshire www.thisisbusiness-staffordshire.co.uk