AN era in local journalism ends today as legendary newspaperman David Cozens closes his notebook for the final time.

After 47 years of writing for the News - many of them as its editor - the doyen of the local press is retiring for good.

His legacy includes one of the best loved and most read diary pages of any weekly newspaper in the land.

Town Talk, as it has latterly been known, was born nearly half a century ago and for many loyal readers it has been the first page they turn to each week.

David Cozens has either written or edited the feature from the start, the last seven years in semi retirement.

An eclectic mix of humour, local politics, human interest, and history it has entertained and informed generations of readers.

There has been no specific brief on content - just varied matters of interest to the Lyme area.

The feature goes back to the 1950s when it started as just a column.

But the then editor - the late Charles Harris - saw its potential for growth.

This was entrusted to David Cozens from around 1960 when the feature gradually expanded under the title In and Around Lyme Regis, the author at one time writing as Onlooker.

When the Lyme Regis News became a registered paper in its own right a survey confirmed the diary page as the most popular part of the paper.

This week colleagues paid tribute to David Cozens with the publication of his final diary page.

Chief Reporter Chris Carson said: "I was fortunate enough to be trained by Dave, a journalist with a unique understanding of what makes a local newspaper tick.

"He realised how, on a local level, the goings on in the town council chamber are equally as significant as the proceedings in the House of Commons.

"And as a sports writer whose colourful prose brought life to many a dreary 0-0 draw, he made people realise that local sport is every bit as important as that played in the name of one's country.

"It was a winning formula that enabled him to take the Lyme Regis News to the top of the tree and keep it there for more than four decades.

"A former colleague rightly described him as the newspaperman's newspaperman, a journalist of the old school, whose like will not be seen again."

Current editor of the News Holly Robinson said: "The News just won't be the same without Dave's input, his local knowledge is second to none. It certainly is the end of an era. We wish him well."