Presses

The Prince of Wales has officially opened North Wales Newspapers (NWN) Media's £16m print facility in Flintshire.

The visit, which took place on Friday (25 April), involved a tour of the North Wales factory in which the Prince met staff members including NWN Media managing director David Faulkner and assistant managing director, Paul Hinchliffe.

The Prince was also on hand to start the printing press, which produced an edition of the Evening Leader, complete with photos detailing his trip to local sites that day.

According to the Evening Leader, Prince Charles said: "It's an enormous pleasure to see the work carried out by local and regional newspapers of this kind here.

"So I was only too pleased to be able to accept the invitation to open your new press hall. I'm beginning to get a lot of practice and so far don't think I've ruined any of them in the process of pressing buttons."

NWN Media chairman Russell Whitehair said: "We have a great team that has fulfilled our project from inception to where we are today."

The new facility houses kit including an 85,000cph, four-tower KBA Commander 85 press and Ferag mailroom equipment, including two UTR conveyors, four MultiStack stackers and four SmartStrap strapping machines.