On Friday, June 11th, 1982, the first issue of the Vale Star went on sale in North Cork and South Limerick, and the front page marked the event with the headline ‘The Star is Born’. The mission statement of the fledgling publication was to record the events of the newspaper’s catchment area with stories and photographs, as seen through the eyes of the local community. To that end, people in towns, villages and townlands were asked to submit stories and photographs of events, and these correspondents were prolific in their weekly reports, keeping readers up to date with everything that was happening in their communities. Local sports clubs and community organisations were also invited to send in reports of their activities, and these weekly columns soon became indispensable to readers, giving reports of past events and highlighting upcoming attractions and fixtures.
It has been a long journey from that issue 40 years ago this week, but we are very proud to say that The Star, as people affectionately refer to it, is an indispensable part of the communities of North Cork and South Limerick, recording the highs and lows, the happy and the sad.
The past four decades have seen so many changes in the Vale Star. The first issue was a black and white publication, put together in the days before computers, but as the years passed the paper grew and began to introduce colour photographs and headlines. Today, of course, the Star is a full colour publication, and has an e-paper edition which is very popular, especially with those members of our community who live abroad. The newspaper has also greatly grown in size, which has allowed us cover more and more local events with our photographs and articles. It can safely be stated that if anything is happening locally, you can read about it in The Star.
The past 40 years have seen Ireland go through many changes, starting with the recession of the 1980s, the emergence of the Celtic Tiger in the late 1990s/early 2000s, the economic crash of the late 2000s, the years of rebuilding in the Noughties, and the rising tide of a few years ago which was threatened by the Covid-19 pandemic. We have certainly lived through many challenges and opportunities in the past four decades, but the one thing that has not changed is the support of you, our readers and advertisers.
We are happy to say that sales of your favourite local weekly remain at a high level, and it is heartwarming to see that our readers continue to support us so strongly.
The editor and staff of the Vale Star would like to thank readers, advertisers, sporting and community organisations for continuing to place their trust in us, and we in turn promise that we will continue to bring you the best of local news, information and photographs every week, as we have done since the beginning.