I know, I know, that the next generation don’t have the same attraction to its pages of newsprint with the latest updates on news, its analytical take on our politicians, journalists’ opinions, its cartoons and its editorial as I do, but I believe they are the poorer for it. 

Opening those pristine pages of information and considered opinion (I am showing my prejudices here. I am only speaking of the Fairfax papers!) each morning before I face the remaining day, to hear that rustle of newspaper, is music to my soul. 

Breakfast is so much better when the paper is propped in front of me.

Arriving in Bendigo 41 years ago I was very pleasantly surprised to discover a city surrounded by bush, with numerous parks and gardens and beautiful old historic buildings.

We still call ourselves "flatlanders" after coming from Gippsland, but Bendigo does have its own particular charm as a city.

Our first action when we arrived was to order the local newspaper. 

There is no other way to know a city as intimately except through the eyes of the local journalists, the letter writers, the advertisements, the editorials, articles about local events, historians with their historical slant on this city of ours, and the personal columns.

It is only via local news that we achieve such a feeling of community. 

The Addy embraces causes which the community are invited to support, whether it is individual assistance or support to an organisation or business, and only a locally written daily community paper can provide that information to its readers.

We recently headed off for a two-week holiday. 

Each day I checked the Addy on my iPad. 

How else would I know if a friend had died, or an earth-shattering announcement was about to change Bendigo forever... or just simply what I might be missing in the city that day.

We will lose our sense of community, of shared experiences, of Bendigo happenings, if our Addy becomes a more generic paper, if it no longer speaks for us personally. 

Who will tell us the stories?

I read about the generous philanthropic gesture of Bill and Carol Holsworth to Haven; Home, Safe’s Sidney Myer Haven project, through an article in the Addy. 

How else would anyone know about such a magnificent gesture?

The Addy has served us well for 160 years. 

I know change is in the air, staff redundancies are being proposed, and staff are feeling very anxious about their future.

I feel a little like a Pollyanna and am still hopeful and positive about the future of our local paper.

It has never needed our support more.