Our circulation rises by 10.6% (From Free Press Series)

Our circulation rises by 10.6%

THE amazing success story of the Free Press series continues.

Latest circulation figures show that the series, which comprises our newspapers in Pontypool, Chepstow, Abergavenny and Monmouth, achieved a 10.6 percent rise, compared to the previous year.

ABC, the independent organisation which lists the official circulation of hundreds of newspapers across the UK, has just published figures for January to June 2003.

An average of 12,137 copies were sold each week, compared to 10,977 during the same period in 2002 - that's more than 3,000 extra readers when you consider that an average of 2.6 people read each copy.

All editions showed a healthy increase. Abergavenny was up by nearly 21 percent, Monmouth by 19.5 per-cent, Chepstow by 10.1 percent and Pontypool by 5.4 percent.

The figures mean that the series has grown by an incredible 27.4 percent since 2001, a statistic that rates among the best weekly newspaper performances in the UK.

During the past year, all our papers were relaunched with much more news, a new entertainments guide, a new look and an expanded letters and community news section, and these figures show that you, our readers, approve of the changes.

But we always welcome your views about your local paper and if you think we are still missing something important, then please let us know.

Meanwhile, more than 2,600 people logged on to our new websites during July - www.thisispontypool.co.uk and www.thisismonmouthshire.co.uk

If you haven't checked them out yet, log on now.

Editor Andy Sambidge said: "It's terrific that more and more people are buying our papers each week and we hope you enjoy the read.

"But we don't intend to rest on our laurels and we are constantly looking at ways to give our readers even better value for money.

"Many thanks to every one of our loyal readers, and keep reading the Free Press - we hope the best is still to come."