The image above is of the last printed Heckler paper we distributed door-to-door. This was way back in the ‘before times’ in early February 2020. It was also before we re-branded The Heckler and focused down to concentrate on Thurrock and Basildon.

Sixteen months without a printed paper is a long time. Now things have eased up a bit, albeit possibly only on a temporary basis, we reckon it’s time to think about producing a printed paper. The issue illustrated above was getting towards where we wanted the paper to be – very much focused on one or two local issues. Previous editions had tried to be all things to all people and to be honest, they didn’t work.

Regular readers of this blog will know that there’s a lot happening across Thurrock and Basildon! Our problem will be to pick which issue we think is most important and produce an edition around that. We’ll be getting our thinking caps on over the next week or so and see what we come up with.

As for the format, we’re keeping an open mind about that. The first edition may just be an online one to test the water. When we go for a printed edition, it may be that we drop from four pages to just two, keeping the writing and graphics sharp and to the point. We’re keeping an open mind on this at the moment.

The distribution model may be high street / town square, door-to-door or a mix of both. That will depend on the issue we pick and the location it’s relevant to.

Suffice to say that unless there’s a sudden and strict lockdown, there will be a printed paper at some point this summer. Watch this space for updates:)