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August 26, 2014

UK’s ‘longest serving editor’ steps down after 40 years

By William Turvill

The editor of the Largs & Millport Weekly News is standing down after 40 years in the job.

Drew Cochrane, 61, who is reported to be the UK’s longest serving editor, will leave the title at the end of September. He will continue as editorial consultant for Romanes Media Group.

He said: “I think that 40 years in the post is a significant landmark and that I should look at putting my energy into other pursuits.

“I was the country’s youngest editor at 22 when I took over the running of the Largs paper in October, 1974 and I have been joking, in recent years, that my ambition was to become the oldest. I’m probably there now.

Cochrane is a former chairman of the Guild of Editors, the Society of Editors in Scotland and the Scottish committee of the National Council for the Training of Journalists.

He added: “I don’t intend to put my feet up as I still feel relatively youthful but, like Monty Python which began in 1969, when I entered the world of journalism, I feel it is the right time to take my final bow. Whether my parrot has expired is open to question.”

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