What a year! This time last year, I was on maternity leave wondering how I would juggle returning to work in the New Year with looking after three children.

I ended up not returning to work until after Easter because the thought of it was so overwhelming but I’m so pleased I came back, I absolutely love running the Spirit of Alfreton and getting to know you all.

And your support for what we’re doing means that we’re able to expand in the New Year…but more on that in a moment.

For those of you who don’t know our story, we launched the website in April 2020 in response to the Covid-19 pandemic with the aim of creating a platform where information about local support services could be shared.

The website was funded by the Nieper family – owners of Alfreton’s David Nieper – and I was the launch editor.

The project has evolved so much since then and I’m proud that the Spirit of Alfreton now helps to showcase local businesses, shares information and news updates, and also highlights positive action taking place around the town.

We launched our new website in the Spring of last year to make it easier for you to access information posted onto the Spirit of Alfreton and to tell us your news.

The reach of the Spirit of Alfreton grew steadily in the following months but nothing could have prepared me for November when our content was seen by more than 34,000 people!

We’re on track to reach a similar number of people this month despite the lull of the Christmas period.

We couldn’t do any of this without your support and your trust in us – and I can’t thank you enough.

I am absolutely passionate about giving a voice to local communities and celebrating all of the good things that happen in them.

This – and your incredible support – means that from the New Year, the Spirit of Alfreton will officially expand its reach to cover South Normanton, Shirland, Somercotes and anywhere else that has an Alfreton address.

We occasionally feature posts and updates from the wider Alfreton area but I want this to happen all the time in order to better reflect our audience and our community.

As always, I need your help to do this so please keep sharing our updates, keep sending me the details of your events and keep posting your news onto the website.

I’m also really keen to start featuring some regular columnists and will be asking for your thoughts on this in due course.

Thank you again and I wish you a very happy 2023!