A weekly for the valley since 1978
The Valley Courier (sample) is an independent news magazine for Springfield and the twelve villages along the river: printed every Thursday, online every day.
Nine people, one valley
We are a newsroom of nine: five reporters, a photographer, a production editor, a listings editor and an editor (sample). We cover the council meetings nobody else sits through, the shops that open and close, and the plays, gigs and markets that make the valley worth living in.
We do not chase national news. If it happened here, or it changes life here, it is ours.
Our history
Four decades of Thursdays (sample).
1978
Issue 1, eight pages
Two teachers start a monthly newsletter about the plan to close the valley railway station.
1991
Every Thursday
The newsletter becomes a weekly magazine with its own office on Press Lane.
2004
Online
Stories go online the day after print; the archive starts here.
2017
Owned by readers
A readers’ co-operative buys the magazine from its founders (sample).
2024
The weekday briefing
The morning email starts: five stories before breakfast.
The people
Write to any of us; the addresses are on the contact page.
Hannah Price
Editor (sample)
Maya Lindqvist
Local desk and cover stories (sample)
Tom Achebe
Business desk (sample)
Ines Kowal
Culture desk (sample)
Ruth Mensah
What’s on and listings (sample)
Sam Okoro
Photographer (sample)
Lena Fischer
Production and pages (sample)
Pat Doyle
Readers’ editor, corrections (sample)
How we work
Every story is checked by a second editor before it is printed. Quotes are recorded or written down on the day, and every figure has a source we can show you.
- We name our sources, unless naming them would put someone at risk
- We call the people we write about before we publish
- We correct mistakes in the next issue, on page 2
- We never take payment for a story
Read the whole issue
Print on your doormat on Thursday, the briefing on weekdays at 7:00 and every story online. From $4 a month (example prices).