OUR LOCAL TEAM: Excited to continue providing The Local with photographs

My wife’s family moved to Niagara-on-the-Lake in the late 1960s after purchasing a tumble-down old place on Ricardo Street. Her mother and father, over several years, completely rebuilt the house from the basement up. We were married at Grace United Church in 1975 and bought our first home in town in 1979 when we were expecting our first child. During our early years in Niagara-on-the-Lake, The Niagara Advance was an invaluable source of community news and of course Penny Coles was its hard-working editor. Her coverage of every aspect of the community was outstanding, keeping us informed of all activities in town. 

We feel most blessed that we were able to raise our two sons in town. We have wonderful memories of them attending, Parliament Oak and later Niagara District, playing on  NOTL sports teams, playing golf at our golf course, sailing lessons and much involvement at Fort George. It has been a great experience, and now we enjoy our retirement here in town as well.

I came to know Penny more when our sons played hockey on the same NOTL hockey team for a few years. My only real contact with the paper at that time, besides reading it weekly,  was contributing photos periodically from church events etc. or to promote upcoming events. Penny was always great at allowing space for community groups to do this and that was so important for a community newspaper.

After The Niagara Advance closed in 2017, I was pleased to see that Penny and her loyal group of supporters were intent on carrying on producing a newspaper that incorporated the same values that were so important in a community newspaper. Thus, The Niagara-on-the-Lake Local was born. Penny had been aware that I was an avid photographer and asked me to contribute photos periodically for the print edition and, being retired, I was excited to do so. Later, when an association with Village Media began, it allowed the opportunity for more photographs and articles both in print and online. I’m an early bird and am often out in the morning looking for subjects and enjoy contributing to Good Morning, Niagara-on-the-Lake

With the ongoing decline of printed newspapers and advertising to support them, the association developed with Village Media has allowed Penny and her team to transition comfortably into an online source of valuable community news daily. I will be pleased to continue my association in the future. All members of the team are excited with this development and they will continue to provide up-to-date coverage of community events and developments online.