By Steve Stratford, Deputy Editor

"Drop the Carpathian Mountains story!"; "Move that BNP story further up the paper!"; "Fewer words on Rowen open garden day!"; "How much do you want on the Vision Support unit?"

Working on the Weekly News is like chasing a moveable feast - stories are changing constantly, both in their length and the angle we take on them. It's one of the many advantages of working on a weekly publication, that we can consider our options more, try and go for the alternatives more often, and provide something a little different to the more instant news services such as daily papers, TV news and the internet.

Some people might not think writing about open garden days, coffee mornings or schoolkids collecting bottletops for charity is very thrilling, and to be perfectly frank it's not. But the truth is, the people we write it about and for appreciate that we bother, that we show an interest, because I firmly believe it is the smaller, more trivial news that interests Weekly News readers the most. What's happening on the corner of Marston Road in Rhos-on-Sea is of far more interest to the people who live in that area than whatever's going on in Gloddaeth Street in Llandudno or Beach Road in Old Colwyn. So we're proud of reporting on the smaller things that go on in our communities, because that is where real people are doing real things. All the political slanging matches that go on at Bodlondeb can't replace a lovely human interest story, or an article about a group of children doing something worthwhile.

But we never take our eye off the bigger issues, those that affect each and every one of us whether we like it or not. Issues such as NHS service provision, local council business and those eternal, infernal roadworks on the A55 - they're often not about people, but about policies that have a direct effect on us all. And the Weekly News is proud to be covering all bases.

So yes, of course it's more thrilling to write about a bus having its roof torn off at Colwyn Bay prom day, but we never forget that all those community fun days, coffee mornings, open days and whist drives mean something to those people involved, and it is important the Weekly News tries to strike a fair balance between the two types of reporting.

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