THE Lancashire Telegraph celebrates its 125th anniversary this year.

Throughout 2011 the Telegraph will be running special stories to celebrate the fantastic achievement.

On October 26, 1886, the first issue hit the streets, and we’ve been an integral part of East Lancashire life ever since.

Over 12 decades, the Telegraph has been there every step of the way through good times and bad, charting major events such as wars and coronations along with local news from births, marriages and deaths to council meetings, crime and people’s personal achievements.

It all started when Thomas Purvis Ritzema, a young newspaper manager from Middlesbrough, tried to buy a copy of an evening newspaper at Blackburn railway station in the summer of 1886.

He was told there was no such thing and was astonished such a densely-populated area had no paper.

As he and his wife made their way to Blackpool for a day out, his thoughts turned to launching a title.

The Northern Daily Telegraph was born – in somewhat of a rush.

Two shops in Railway Road, Blackburn, were hastily acquired, 50 staff hired, machinery and paper bought and advertisers canvassed.

On October 26 the first issue rolled off the press. It carried a mixture of local and national news. And people lapped it up. Inside six months it was selling 22,500 daily.

Within eight years it had outgrown 19 and 21 Railway Road and moved to purpose-built offices a few yards up the road. It would be the Telegraph’s home for 87 years.

In these early days the telephone was still in its infancy so news was brought to the office by other means.

Reporters were allowed to claim a horse and cab on expenses, while carrier pigeons brought sports results into the office’s tower.

As technology advanced, a special ‘aeroplane edition’ was flown to London in 1928 to mark Blackburn Rovers’ FA Cup victory at Wembley.

Circulation continued to rise, hitting 75,000 in 1936, despite the front page carrying mainly adverts.

By this time, reporters filed stories by phone to a battery of copytakers at head office.

Clattering teleprinters in the wire room churned out reports from the world’s news agencies.

Words were turned into type using molten metal in the composing room and, six days a week, the news roared from the two giant presses in High Street.

In 1938, Mr Ritzema died aged 85.

During 52 years at the helm of the Telegraph, the keen Blackburn Rovers supporter was known as a teetotaller and social reformer who was always ready to attack to ‘evils of gambling and drink’ which he regarded as ‘curses of England’.

His wish was for a campaigning newspaper and over the decades the Telegraph has fought for causes ranging from the textile industry to action on danger roads and also raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for vital hospital equipment.

Our recent Wasted Lives, Consequences and Keep Them Safe campaigns ensure Mr Ritzema’s ethos continues to this day.

And he would have loved the concept of our Pride of East Lancashire awards in 2003.

The paper’s most ambitious event, we celebrated the unsung community heroes across East Lancashire, culminating in a glittering ceremony at King George’s Hall.

In 1945, the Telegraph was sold by Mr Ritzema’s family to the Kemsley Group.

The war saw news force ads off the front page, while rationing of newsprint saw the Telegraph become a tabloid.

During the consumer boom of the 1950s the Telegraph sold well over 100,000 copies daily. The paper also became the ‘Evening Telegraph’ in 1956, became a broadsheet again in 1958 and was bought by Thomson Regional Newspapers in 1959.

‘Lancashire’ was added to the masthead in 1963, the same year full colour was used for the first time.

The late 1970s saw the start of a £1.5m investment in production and in 1982, the Telegraph moved to its present premises, and became six-day a week compact in 1991.

As the world wide web was born, the Telegraph remained ahead of the game.

In 1995 it was the first regional newspaper in the country to put daily news on the internet.

A year later, after five years as part of Reed Regional Newspapers, the paper was bought by present owners, Newquest Media Group.

Editor Kevin Young was appointed in June 2000. He is only the eleventh successor to Mr Ritzema.

The Telegraph is very different from the product launched in 1886.

Known as the Lancashire Telegraph since 2006, it is now a morning paper.

Our website is updated 24/7 with online readership going through the roof and journalists providing videos, podcasts and Twitter news breaks.

Our core objective has not altered: to document East Lancashire life and fight the cause of its people by holding the authorities to account.

This history will be celebrated throughout 2011.

So keep an eye on the Lancashire Telegraph as we remember the news, sport and people who make up the area’s rich history.