A group of former colleagues on a now-defunct weekly newspaper are planning a reunion almost 40 years after they last worked together.

Some of the former Salford City Reporter journalists have not seen each other since the mid-1980s but are planning a get-together after recently getting back in touch via social media.

The Reporter, based at the time on Liverpool Street, Salford, merged with The Advertiser in 1997 and was renamed the Salford Advertiser in 1999.

Now a group of its former staff are to meet up on 7th May at a Manchester city centre venue to be decided.

A montage of photos featuring Salford City Reporter staff from the 1980s

They include John Turner, who went on to work for the  Daily Star, former Manchester Evening News sports reporter Trevor Baxter, former deputy editor Sue Chalmers, who went on to be publicity manager at the University of Salford and Martin Banks who now lives and works as a freelance in Belgium.

The foursome who came up with the idea of a meeting after reconnecting with each other via LinkedIn and Facebook.

Said Martin: “After all these years, it promises to be quite an occasion. I think I can speak for all of us in saying I am really looking forward to seeing some old mates again and reminiscing about old times, in my case, for the first time since 1984.”

“Tracking down some of the old colleagues after so long is not easy – still very much a work in progress – so if any of them read this we’d ask them to please get in touch.”

The Salford Advertiser continued as a standalone title until 2015 when it was closed and incorporated into the Manchester Weekly News, which itself closed in 2022.

Anyone interested in attending the reunion should contact Martin via martinbanks2009@gmail.com.