Wednesday January 28th 2026
Written by Midlothian View Reporter, Liam Eunson
A volunteer-run community news title will celebrate an uninterrupted half-century of publication next month.
C&B News now champions five neighbouring communities in south-west Edinburgh: Balerno, Currie, Juniper Green, Baberton Mains, and Colinton.
Launched as Currie & Balerno News in February 1976, the publication is distributed free, 10 times a year, across the five communities. It has never failed to produce a promised issue, continuing in print even during successive Covid-19 lockdowns during 2020 and 2021.
“Today, as always, C&B News aims to be a platform to display the rich talent, expertise, interests and achievements of local people,” says the paper’s chair, Gail Rankin.
“We don’t have a pool of paid journalists who write articles for the magazine, but benefit from the opinions and knowledge of local people to inform the wider community each month in the articles they submit.”
Paul Fisher Cockburn is a freelance journalist contracted to compile and prepare each issue for publication. He explains: “I often describe myself as the ‘lucky 13th editor’. It’s been my good fortune to inherit a very well-established and much loved publication, loyally supported not just by readers and contributors but also many local businesses that still actively choose to advertise their services in a print-first publication.”
C&B News has grown considerably since 1976, evolving from a largely monochrome, text-heavy “newspaper” into a full-colour, picture-filled magazine.
While C&B News will be celebrating its 50th anniversary throughout 2025, the focus of individual issues will nevertheless remain on current events and activities.
“Reporting and presenting what’s going on now locally was the original motivation for launching C&B News back in 1976,” says Paul. “That remains true today. And, hopefully, it’s what we – and our successors – will still be doing for many more years to come.”
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