#bct100years: The people of Benoni make the newspaper what it is
The City Times is an integral part of Benoni.
Former City Times editor Hilary Green writes:
Wow, it seems only yesterday that I was writing with good wishes for the Benoni City Times on the occasion of its 80th and 90th birthdays.
And now it’s one hundred years old!
And that means it’s congratulations to the whole of Benoni … the town/city, all its residents, its history, its lakes, businessmen and women, school children, and all its workers. In short, the people and the happenings of the town in the course of its history.
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The City Times is an integral part of Benoni and has recorded the people and events over the past 100 years.
It is regarded as “our” City Times, if it is not delivered timeously then the office phone rings off the hook with people demanding “their” City Times.
Yes, it belongs partly to the many people who have been part of producing the weekly newspaper over the years, the journalists, the production staff, the advertising staff, the printers, in fact, anyone who in any way was involved regards the City Times as theirs but it is the people of Benoni who make the City Times what it is … a record of the people, events and the history of Benoni.
The paper has gone through many changes in process and format. The hot metal which I missed by a few years, changes from a sold broadsheet to a free distribution tabloid and the great leap into the digital age of computers and online while still retaining its local flavour and feel.
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So many memories of mentors and colleagues, discussions which always seemed to be about stories for the paper or how to get a new angle.
The City Times has been part of my life (an absorbing and exciting part of my life) since I started as a reporter on April 1 (yes April Fool’s Day) 1982 … so although I no longer work there I religiously fetch my copy from my gate each week to find out what is happening in Benoni.
So Benoni City Times, from one oldie (not quite as old and as venerable as you dear Benoni City Times) to another … congrats on your 100 years and here’s to many more.
