ONCE reporters file their articles it is out of their hands and in the control of content manager Alison Grover and news editor Alison Phillips.

They are the busiest people in the office as every article for both the Gazette and Herald and the Wiltshire Times comes under their scrutiny and is edited by them and put on a page.

Reporters compile a news list of all the stories they are working on and Mrs Phillips decides how long articles should be and where in the paper they should go.

She co-ordinates this with Ms Grover, who lives in Devizes and has worked at the Gazette for 12 years, who starts by putting a template on the pages. This could mean creating two pages with space for lots of pictures for events such as Pewsey Carnival.

Each page has around four stories of varying length and takes Ms Grover around 20 minutes to check and place. She also chooses the pictures and edits the captions.

When things change last minute and breaking news comes in, she and Mrs Phillips have to work quickly to move the stories around.

Once she has finished a page the articles are then sent to the ‘sub-hub’ in Weymouth where sub-editors create the headlines and straplines.

They are then sent back and usually tweaked again by Ms Grover or Mrs Phillips and a team in Swindon who proof-read the paper, in between working on the Swindon Advertiser.

As the Gazette has three editions for Marlborough, Devizes and Chippenham every front page is different as are a number of pages inside.

Once all the pages of the paper have been filled and checked it is then sent to be printed at Oxford and often the first time a reporter sees their finished article is like readers when the paper has been printed.

After the Gazette goes to print on a Wednesday afternoon Ms Grover, who does the same process for the Wiltshire Times at the same time, starts again by filling the pages at the back such as property of the week, nostalgia, the letters pages, community and columnist pages, as well as the celebration and obituary page.

While editorial assistant Sue Cockrem, who has worked at the paper for ten years, creates the what’s on page, theatre listings, gig guide and the from the files feature.

Ms Grover said: “It is high-pressure but hugely rewarding when you see the paper on shelves in a shop.”