Angela Cobbinah at her desk in the newsroom

WHEN Eric Gordon proudly opened the first-ever issue of the Camden New Journal on March 25, 1982 there were coos of delight from staff as we surveyed the new arrival, admiring its size and good looks, all of its 12 pages and topped with a bold red masthead.

But there was no time for a launch party, much less enough money to hold one, and a few bottles of wine had to suffice for a brief celebration later that day.

Amid the joyous relief of finally pulling it off after a year of careful preparation was the slightly unsettling thought that we would now have to bring out the paper every week.

Had someone told Eric that the Camden New Journal would still be going strong 40 years on, he would probably have said “don’t be daft” and shut down the conversation with one of his nervous laughs.

That was pretty much the feeling of most of us. But it was Eric’s remarkable energy and vision to create a unique voice for the borough and beyond that inspired us to think that – maybe, perhaps, possibly – we could defy the odds.

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The previous year, he had been made an offer he couldn’t refuse by the owners of the Camden Journal, which he’d edited until its shock closure in 1980.

This was the sale of the title for £1 as part of a deal to settle the long-running strike over the shutdown involving the company’s other titles. Some said the virtual giveaway meant it was worthless, but that didn’t bother Eric. As far he was con­cerned, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do things his way.

As one of the nine sacked Camden Journal staff but unable to get a job due to still being a trainee, I agreed to become a founder member of the new paper alongside Frank Branston, an associate of Eric’s who ran a flourish­ing free weekly news­paper in Bedfordshire.

The first New Journal arrives in Camden Road. From left: journalist Irving Oldfield, tenant activists John Mason, Alf Barrett and Terry Hargrave

Over the next 12 months, a business plan was drawn up with the help of the erstwhile Greater London Council and Camden Council, followed by a modest loan from Midland Bank. The new venture was to be co-operatively run and, controversially, the paper was to be given away for free.

Around eight full-time admin and editorial staff were recruited, but others contributed their services, including sub-editor and designer Renee Oldfield, formerly of the Enfield Gazette, and her husband Irving, retired chief press officer at the National Coal Board.

Although a lot of work was involved and cash was tight, there was also a lot of excitement and we thought of ourselves as pioneers.

The premises in Camden Road had been the base – courtesy of the Town Hall – of the Save The Journal, the weekly strike paper that would provide the vital bridge between old and new, ensuring that the Camden New Journal enjoyed immense goodwill locally when it finally hit the streets.

From day one, the offices resembled a community centre, as people wandered in and out with stories or simply to pass the time of day. “Look, I’ve got a newspaper to get out,” Eric would say in his abrupt way, pounding away at his typewriter.

Announcing that historic first issue, he wrote that in addition to continuing the campaign­ing ethos of its predeces­sor, the paper would be “entirely new” and what’s more would be distributed freely to 45,000 homes in the borough.

“It is an independent paper – independent in outlook and indepen­dently financed,” he added, signing off with the CNJ’s now famous motto “Open to all and coerced by none”.

The front-page lead was a short but heart-warming piece about the wedding of wheelchair-bound Olympian athletes Maggie McClennan and Tom Killin, while inside was a lively mix of news stories – from the planned closure of Sir Richard of Chichester secondary school and threatened deportation of a Greek Cypriot refugee family, to freed Great Train Robber Thomas Wisbey being back behind bars again after selling stolen travellers’ cheques.

There was plenty in the way of local politics, too, including a feature on the coming High Court case of 31 surcharged Labour councillors.

It was a promising start, proof that the Camden Journal’s successor was there to stand up and get noticed and not be the throw­away “free sheet” many had feared. Indeed, at a time when hundreds of local news­papers were being closed down or swallowed up by conglomerates, the CNJ forged ahead in leaps and bounds like a min­now among the sharks, winning numerous journalism awards and reinforcing the strength of its business model by later adding two other titles to its stable, the Islington Tribune and Westminster Extra.

“The CNJ will be celebrating its 40th anniversary next year, all being well,” Eric told me during last year’s lockdown as cautiously optimistic as ever.

Sadly, he didn’t live to see that day.

However, his legacy to journalism and to the borough he cham­pioned clearly lives on.