Pulling the Waimea Weekly from your letterbox for your dose of local news and information may now be a regular part of your week, but 20 years ago it was a rather unique experience.
That’s because it was 20 years ago last month the Waimea Weekly produced its first ever edition, marking the start of a new era for the region.
The arrival of the Waimea Weekly brought a locally owned and operated newspaper back to the region and it’s remained that way ever since.
Founded by Steve Page and Jenny Bates, the Weekly has been a vital part of the community since its launch, covering news and events from all over the region.
Right from the start, the Weekly aimed to make waves by writing stories exclusive to the region and ensuring that it had the back of readers and advertisers. No two campaigns summed this attitude up more than Mandy Carter and Waimea Village.
Mandy was a young mum when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Her friends and family were attempting to raise money for a drug called Herceptin (which is now funded by Pharmac).
The Waimea Weekly jumped in to support Mandy’s campaign and by the time the community was finished it had raised enough money for Mandy’s treatment and an extra $100,000 which was donated to Nelson Tasman Hospice.
Waimea Village was another crusade the Weekly took on and highlighted. It was a three year battle between the owners of the 170 homes in the village and the couple that owned the land, Michael and Carolyn Wright. The Wrights attempted to put up the monthly fees that the residents paid from $80 per month to $350 per month over a three-year period, sparking outage amongst the mostly pensioners who lived there, as well as trying to introduce draconian regulations that had the potential to seriously affect the lives of the residents.
After consistent pressure by the Weekly and the community, the Wrights sold the village land to the residents, who then formed a collective to manage it – it has been successfully run for more than a decade now without the prices being raised unnecessarily and has returned to being a great place to live.
Paper owner at the time, Steve Page, says the two campaigns showed that the paper really cared about the region and its residents.
“It showed us all that under the right circumstances the Waimea Weekly was a very powerful ally of the community it served. And it still is.”
Co-owner and publisher Andrew Board started at the Waimea Weekly in 2006 as a young reporter. He says the paper has been a defining part of his life.
“When I first started, it had a real start-up vibe to it, we were all rushing around finding stories and selling ads. It was a great time and plenty of fun.”
Andrew says the Waimea Weekly was the start of Top South Media, the region’s largest media company. TSM now publishes Waimea Weekly, Nelson Weekly, Motueka Golden Bay Guardian, Nelson Magazine, Top South Now, Best Life magazine, as well as publications in Marlborough.
