Special Derry Journal 250th anniversary edition available to pre-order worldwide here

Next week’s Friday edition of the Derry Journal, on May 27, 2022 will include a special commemorative edition to mark the Journal’s 250th anniversary and is available now to pre-order worldwide. We are currently We are currently working on a 48-page commemorative edition which will be included with your normal Friday ‘Journal’ and will look back over the course of the last 250 years of the Derry Journal serving the population of Derry, Donegal and the wider north west.
By Brendan McDaid
Published 19th May 2022, 08:26 BST
Updated 19th May 2022, 16:32 BST
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It will feature contributions and memories from former editors and reporters, photo spreads and material from our archive including the very first story ever published back in 1772.

It will look back over the incredible history of the Journal from its founding in the Diamond, and subsequent moves to Shipquay Street, Buncrana Road, Pennyburn Pass and most recently Fort George.

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It will also detail the Journal’s switch to become an important voice for nationalists in the 1800s, and look at why we were banned on both sides of the border in the first half of the 20th Century.

The special 250th anniversary edition of the Derry Journal front and back cover (in progress).The special 250th anniversary edition of the Derry Journal front and back cover (in progress).
The special 250th anniversary edition of the Derry Journal front and back cover (in progress).

The best of ‘Jed’ will be featured, along with a focus of the Journal’s sports coverage, and there will also be a time-line charting important local historical, political and cultural events that have shaped who we are, going right back to 7000 A.D. and right up to the present time.

Photographic features include ‘Derry Then and Now’, with vintage and modern images of the city and region; Journal staff down the days.

It focuses also on covering Inishowen and wider Donegal over the past 250 years; a message from the Mayor Graham Warke.

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We also go back in time to 1772 and examine what the city and region would have been like when the citizens of Derry, Donegal and Tyrone first read the Journal, and delve into the colourful life of founder and first editor George Douglas.

Some of the front from down the years including the very first edition of the Journal will be on display.Some of the front from down the years including the very first edition of the Journal will be on display.
Some of the front from down the years including the very first edition of the Journal will be on display.

The commemorative edition will be available in shops and can also be pre-purchased now worldwide online via: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/derry-journal-250th-anniversary-edition-tickets-324902330617

As well as our own 250th special edition and an accompanying Derry Journal exhibition in Foyleside Shopping Centre from May 31st, Derry City & Strabane District Council’s Museum & Heritage Service, in partnership with NUI Galway and Trinity College Dublin, have invited people to register for a lecture entitled ‘1772–2022: The Derry Journal at 250’ at The Guildhall on June 1, at 6pm to celebrate the establishment of Derry’s First Newspaper.

Bernadette Walsh, Archivist, Tower Museum, and Mayor Graham Warke will be joined by Breandán Mac Suibhne, National University of Ireland, Galway, speaking about George Douglas, Founding Editor of the London-Derry Journal, and Print Culture in North-west Ulster, 1772–96, while David Dickson, Trinity College, Dublin will speak on Douglas in Exile. To book your place please contact Tower Museum 028 71372411 or email tower.reception@derrystrabane.com

Related topics:DerryDonegal