OWEN Tindle has taken over from his father, Sir Ray Tindle CBE, as the chairman of Tindle Newspapers, the group that owns the Brecon and Radnor Express.

Sir Ray, who founded the business, will continue to be involved in the running of Tindle Newspapers as its president.

The change was announced last week at a senior management conference at the Oxon Heath Retreat and Conference Centre in Kent, which was attended by all of Tindle’s senior managers.

Sir Ray, who last year turned 90, is stepping down for health reasons but said he was delighted his son was taking over and paid thanks to his wife, Beryl, who he said has been the rock "who I have leaned on heavily for months now". He also had some upbeat words to say about the future of the newspaper industry despite the gloom and doom spread by many in the media.

He said: "I see a greater need for our local press now than I have ever seen in my 80 or so years connected with this business. Yes, local papers will survive. Local news in depth is what people need.

"Names, faces and places. There is no doubt about it - sufficient demand is still there. Local detailed news is in a category of its own. It has survived many years. It will live forever."

He reminded his audience of the story of how he bought his first newspaper with the £300 he was paid when he was demobbed after the Second World War. He had been involved in producing a daily newspaper on a troop ship in the Far East in the early 1940s. But his interest had first been stirred soon after the commencement of hostilities with Germany.

He said: "When the bombing of London started, schools still operating in the capital were evacuated. I was in one of many long queues at Paddington Station. Entirely through my own fault I returned from a visit to the loo and joined the wrong queue! I ended up in Torquay where I was allocated to a family in Paignton. Their neighbours were Charles and Kath Crook and their two daughters. Charles was the advertisement manager of the Torquay Herald & Express.

"I owe them so much. I fell in love with local papers then (1940) and I’ve been in love with them ever since."

In reply, Owen said: "It is a great honour to be passed the baton of the family company which I will carry forward for many years to come I’m sure. I’m so glad that you are staying on as President and more importantly as our esteemed guru.

"Yours is a hard act to follow - an impossible act to follow, for you have created and built this group into one of the finest independent local newspaper groups in the country. And you, yourself must be the most accomplished and respected local newspaperman in the entire industry.

"No-one else has created and maintained such a successful and entirely family-owned group, remained in profit for over 40 years without incurring one penny of debt to anyone. No-one else has remained so steadfast for so many decades through all the hard times and against such an array of adversaries, and carried themselves with such dignity, integrity and good humour."

With one eye on the newspaper group’s future and the job he has to keep the business profitable, Owen added: "We will have to continually re-appraise and re-align ourselves with the realities of the times and the reduced revenues that [all newspapers] are experiencing, but we will go forward into the new era of local media, keeping things beautifully small and beautifully local."