The Echo has every reason to take time and space out and blow its own trumpet during Local Newspaper Week (Jon gets the news they wanted to hide, May 15).

How else would one know about all that’s going on about us?

Not only does the Echo seem to be on the spot when and where anything happens, the paper actually digs and disclose sometimes quite painful and well-hidden facts and maladies.

Sometimes exposure can only come from a diligent press.

Who else will take our elected representatives to task when necessary?

Who else will inform us whenever some developer or council wants to inflict another carbuncle on the local scene?

Not every news item is of great importance, but the coverage represents such a wide range of subjects there is always something of interest.

It’s not just lurid stories.

Much emphasis is given to the better part of human nature, of charity work and local achievements.

Ordinary people become heroes for their often selfless and otherwise unheralded works.

I always look forward to Thursday’s Echo for Tom King’s Memories.

And what would the local scene be like without the opinions, quirks, comments and idiosyncrasies of Echo Letters?

Long may the Echo flourish and with it free speech and vigilance.

Robert Hallmann
Castle Road
Hadleigh