The Mid Sussex Times - March 25 1999

A man of vision who brought us the news

No history of Haywards Heath would be complete without the story of the Mid Sussex Times which remains at the heart of community life.

The story began in 1871 when Charles Clarke, a printer from Devonshire, moved to Haywards Heath.

Charles set himself up in business as a small jobbing printer and bookbinder in his works in New Road (which later became Boltro Road).

He foresaw the potential growth of towns and villages in Mid Sussex and the increased demand for printing services. There were already potential customers in the area including Ardingly College and the former St Francis Hospital.

Before establishing the Middy, Charles started producing directories for Cuckfield, Haywards Heath, Lindfield and Burgess Hill.

The directories which expanded to cover other villages have become a valuable tool in historical research – listing private residences and residents and the occupants of business premises.

They also contained potted histories of the towns and villages covered.

The directories attracted local and national advertisers and their success encouraged Charles to go ahead with his boldest idea yet – publishing a newspaper.

At first, he did the entire job himself, reporting, writing stories, printing and even selling the paper.

The first issue of the Mid Sussex Times went on sale on January 12, 1881 priced at just a penny.

The broadsheet was heralded as ‘a family newspaper for Haywards Heath, Cuckfield, Burgess Hill, Lindfield, Hurstpierpoint, Hassocks Gate, Keymer and surrounding villages’.

The first edition contained an apology printed on the front page for launching: “Another journalistic craft upon the sea of public opinion.”

The justification was the growth of the district: ‘When it is remembered that Burgess Hill alone contains a population of 4000 souls, with Haywards Heath increasing likewise, it will surely be deemed at least expedient that this trial should be made.’

The paper included a new Building Society for Burgess Hill and Hurstpierpoint, New Year's rejoicing in Warninglid – ‘roused from its usual monotonous quietude’ and a man cut to pieces on the railway at Plumpton.

Charles also noted: “Since Christmas, Burgess Hill has been and still is extremely dull”.

News from Mid Sussex mainly centred on the farming community and such was the influence of the agricultural industry that the publication date was soon changed from Wednesday to Tuesday – the day of the Haywards Heath cattle market.

Of the Middy’s eight pages, half were made up of national and international affairs. The London section of the paper was carried for several years until the circulation and local advertising were strong enough to maintain the Middy in Sussex alone.

By 1917, the Middy could no longer be run by one person, so the editor formed a limited company to manage the various businesses of printers, publishers, bookbinders, newsagents and stationers.

Charles became the chairman, and Ernest Hayden, who often declared that “he did not suffer fools gladly”, became the second editor. The video was typeset by hand during its first 40 years.

The type was made up by Charles's twin sons James and George, in the cellars of the Boltro Road building.

This changed in 1921, when mechanical composition, using Monotype keyboards was introduced.

In less than an hour, a Monotype operator could compose an ordinary newspaper column, which had generally reckoned to be a day’s work for a hand compositor.

Charles was not to enjoy the benefits of the new system. He died just before the change over, in March 1921.

In 1926, the year of the General Strike – the shortage of newsprint reduced the Middy to a single sheet for several weeks. On Sundays, when negotiations between workers and employers were at their most crucial, special editions were printed hourly.

Herbert Clarke, Charles's grandson was, on occasions driven by a coal lorry to the paper mill at Dartford to get more paper on which to print the Middy.

But neither the general strike, nor the severe restrictions of the two world wars interrupted the regular weekly publication of the Middy.

In 1943 Albert Gregory took over as editor. He joined the paper in 1893 as an apprentice and by the time he retired in 1955 had clocked up 62 years of service.

Between the wars circulation of the Middy doubled from 3000 in 1918 to 6000 just before World War II, with an average of 10 pages per issue.

By 1955, Mid Sussex had grown considerably into a thriving commuter centre. With increased demand on advertising and editorial space, the Middy grew to 24 pages with a circulation of 18,600.

Arthur Church, the Middy’s forth editor was responsible for modernising the paper. Under his guidance, the paper began to lose its agricultural feel.

On the printing side, innovations included lithographic machines, which could print in two, three or four colours, and a large letterpress cylinder machine.

More changes were made by Arthur's successor, Conway Gabe. The front page was given a new look and adverts reduced in size. A new masthead updated the paper’s image.

By the late 1960s the paper had expanded to an average of 38 to 40 pages.

Sport expanded to two pages and specialist pages including the Women's page, Farm focus and a Guide to the Shows were added.

By the mid 70s circulation had risen to about 20,000 per issue.

The only black spots for the Middy were the recession and industrial disputes of 1974 to 1975.

In 1978 there was another major change in the production of the Middy. The hot metal system was dispensed with in favour of photo typesetting.

The Middy's 5,000th addition on March 23, 1978 was the first to be completely produced by this method. 

The following year the publication day changed from Wednesday to Friday.

Robin Anderson took over as editor at the end of the Middy’s centenary year. He guided the paper through turbulent times – there were ownership changes as well as a shift from broadsheet to tabloid format in 1987.

In 1990 the paper again shifted publication day to Thursday.

Current editor Paul Watson became the 10th editor in 1993. Under his editorship, electronic full-page make up on screen was introduced.

Technological changes meant the Boltro Road offices were far too big for the Middy’s needs and, in the latest chapter of its history, the media moved to more central premises in South Road last September.