From the Editor: A year of new beginnings

Phew. Grab a treat from the pantry or the fridge and put your feet up. Because you’ve earned it!

I’m not sure what happened to you this year, but 2025 has been a busy year with some steep learning curves. At the end of February, we launched the Franklin Times after Rural Living wrapped up the previous April.

While building on the many years of hard work by the previous Rural Living team, it has been a whirlwind bringing the Franklin Times to what it is now. We have now been publishing twice a month, which has brought about tighter deadlines and brought more staff on board.

We have faced our fair share of challenges, from creating a whole 48-page newspaper in less than two weeks in time for the February launch (while working 20 hours a week), to creating new regular features like My Local Community Hall and Franklin Walks, to pinning down our distribution areas.

Thank you for welcoming the newspaper into your community. A huge thank you to the
businesses and individuals who have supported us financially through advertising, to our staff, regular columnists, community photographers, and you, our readers.

Congratulations to the two Franklin Junior Journalists and their mentors for the fantastic articles you have produced for us and thank you for your patience as I learned the ropes and set up the initiative for the Franklin Times. Please do get in touch if you or your child is keen to take part next year – we have 10 spaces available with mentors from a range of specialities and backgrounds.

We will be posting breaking news to our website throughout the festive season, with our first printed newspaper out on January 16.

Have a wonderful Christmas and a relaxing summer break.