Seasoned readers of Egremont Today often make page 22, or page 26 in a 28 page edition, their very first port of call. It include, with Spot the Landmark, Di Hampton's recommendation of what soup, main course or wicked sweet to cook that evening. Often as we make our deliveries the first question we are asked is what Di has got for us this time.

Since February 1992, when she was running the Bistro at Rosehill with Janet Kennedy and Lyn Walby, Di has not missed a single month. Such dedication and reliability is humbling to an editor and makes his job possible. She has now responded to innumerable requests and gathered together 175 of those recipes, almost as many as she has written, and packed them into a neat little volume which is being printed for her by the wonderful team at Printexpress, which has also been our unfailing support at times of trouble ever since we started printing 'Egremont Today' on our amazing veteran offset press, Rosie. So many things are coming together now! As the leaflet on the reverse side of this page shows, the book will soon be available from nearly all canny outlets in our delivery area at the modest price of £5.50, and apart from being your own standby in the kitchen it will make a very seasonable Christmas present. Only 1000 copies are to be printed and they could sell out. Remember 'Calendar Girls'! Very generously, Di has said that after covering her costs she will donate any profits to a charity of our choosing.
"You are sitting on a gold mine," a friend told us, hastening to add that it was not a pension fund but a mine of local history. Much of the more recent material can be found among our archives on our website:

www.egremont-today.com

And we have an efficient search engine that may help you find what you want. If you cannot find it,email egremont2@aol.com, and we will supply it.

This is also a time to reflect on the remarkable story of 'Egremont Today', which has appeared without a single month's break since our first edition in June 1990. It has been recognised by our readers, now including 10,000 families between Cleator Moor and Eskdale, as something belonging to them, and delivered through all those letter boxes by loyal teams of volunteers. It is nice not to feel alone, and we should like to know if there is another publication in the country that attempts to do what we are doing: sustained for so many years; hand delivered to so many readers; produced in house on our own machinery; completely unsubsidised by any public or political source and in fact contributing substantially to local good causes. Pass over the fact that the principal workers have recently celebrated 50 years of married life together. Somewhere among all those families there must be someone who has read something like it, and if you do, please tell us. It is like looking for distant planets.

We know that we cannot continue forever, but we do not know when the breaking point will come. We do want to tell our advertisers that we have substantial funds set aside to compensate them for any unfulfilled commitments. We should also like to say that any more offers of help could keep us going a little longer. If you see someone old toiling up your street with papers and could consider doing that street yourself (especially if it's in Cleator Moor!), please ring 820423 or email egremont2@aol.com to let us know. Dozens of people do help us, some for the love of our paper, some for the sake of a good cause they would like us to support, some for a modest personal wage. They are all part of the incredible story of ‘Egremont Today’.