PUBLICATION of the Sheppey Gazette is to end next week, after more than 100 years supplying the island with news.

Owner Northcliffe Media announced the closure of the newspaper and its sisters the East Kent Gazette and Medway News on Friday, with the following statement: "In response to the collapse of the proposed sale of Kent Regional News & Media following referral of the transaction to the Competition Commission by the Office of Fair Trading, Northcliffe Media is reviewing its activities across Kent and the wider south-east.

"This review has concluded that continuing to publish the News and the Gazette is unlikely to be financially viable for the foreseeable future.

"We believe that the titles should cease publication very soon."

A total of 38 jobs are under notice of redundancy and the final issue of the Gazette will be printed on Wednesday, December 7.

Editor Christine Rayner, who has held the position for 16 years, was devastated to see the demise of the title with which she has been involved for so long.

She joined as chief reporter in 1979 and has remained on the news team since.

She added: "We have been inundated with goodwill messages from readers, showing what we already knew – that they love their Gazette, which has been a part of the community for so long.

"My hope is that someone will have faith to take on the title and continue publishing a newspaper for Sheppey.

"We owe it to the founder William John Parrett, who had the foresight to set up the East Kent Gazette in July, 1855, as a news and advertising channel for Sittingbourne.

"Its sister paper the Sheppey Gazette was founded in 1900 as the North East Kent Times, and it has been covering island issues ever since."

Among the people who have written to the Gazette to share their sadness at its demise was former Mayor of Swale Peter Morgan, who said: "I just could not believe it when I heard that the Gazette will have to close. Whatever will we do to keep abreast of local developments?

"I am most grateful for the support you have always given me and my 'mad' schemes."

The Gazette has been at the forefront of news throughout its long history and has helped bring about important changes.

In the late 19th century, it supported striking bargemen, realising that so many people owed their living to the waterways running through Swale.

In the First World War, the editor was one of the first to condemn one of the worst atrocities of the conflict, writing in May, 1915: "Whatever may be urged in extenuation, the sinking of the Lusitania by a German submarine, involving the loss of 1,500 lives, will be regarded for all time as one of the greatest crimes in history."

So, as the final page of the newspaper's long history is about to be turned, staff at the Gazette wish their readers warm thanks for their support over the years – and hope that something might be done to retrieve the title for posterity.