TODAY is the last Editor’s Chair column to bear my name.

As you may have read elsewhere in this edition, or on our website, I am standing down as editor of the Argus tomorrow.

And 27 years after I first walked into the Argus newsroom those are quite strange words to write.

Nevertheless, it is the right time to leave and to find out what the world is like outside journalism.

I’ve been a journalist since I was 17 years old and it will be a huge wrench to leave the newspaper industry.

I will also be extremely sad to leave so many fantastic, talented colleagues.

But I think I leave the Argus in rude health after four and a half years as editor.

And I know I leave it in good hands.

I have worked with my successor, Nicole Garnon, since I joined the Argus as a downtable sub-editor in 1989.

She will be a fantastic editor and a worthy custodian of the Argus, which will celebrate its 125th anniversary next year.

I was proud to be an Argus employee when the paper celebrated its centenary in 1992 and more so to be editor when we celebrated our 120th birthday in 2012.

Next year I will be an interested observer as the paper celebrates yet another milestone.

My time in journalism has seen remarkable changes in the industry.

When I started work as a trainee reporter in 1984, a month before my 18th birthday, I bashed out my copy on a typewriter.

Today we break news online first and tell fuller stories in print.

When I joined the Argus the rumble of the printing press at the rear of our Maesglas offices was an ever-present noise.

Today there is a housing estate where the press once stood and the wonders of modern technology mean Argus pages whizz through the ether at the touch of a button to our printing press in Weymouth – but we are still in newsagents and other stores across Gwent at 6am every day.

Not all change has been good, of course, but it has been necessary to ensure local newspapers survive in an age when advertising revenues are considerably lower than in the halcyon days of the 1980s and 1990s.

I doubt if there is a journalist of my era who does not miss the thrill of hitting a same-day deadline and then seeing the paper flying off the presses just minutes later.

There is still an excitement to be had in breaking news online, but it might mean just a little more to younger colleagues who never experienced life on an evening newspaper.

So what now?

Well, I am taking a little break for a couple of months to recharge my batteries before launching my own media consultancy business in the new year.

The idea of working for myself is both exciting and scary, but having just turned 50 I am young enough to have the energy to pour into a new venture and experienced enough (I hope) to make a success of it.

My aim is to work with organisations that have similar aims to mine – to make a difference to Newport and the surrounding area.

This city has been my home for almost 30 years and I am passionate about its prospects and its future.

I will still be contributing to the Argus as a writer and consultant.

And while I won’t be penning the Editor’s Chair any more I will be writing a new column in the new year.

There is no disguising the fact that local newspapers have had a tough time in recent years.

But an online audience that continues to grow in double-digit percentages every year shows that people still want local news from trusted sources.

The Argus has always been about its readers and I wish every one of you health and happiness for the future. Goodbye and good luck.