Tom Bailey sent in this picture of Norman Barnes retiring from his job as “The Printer”, early 1970s.
Tom Bailey said: “To my mind the setting of type was an art form and having spent many hours setting five point type, visually letter-spacing said type for advertisements to be published in newspapers; actually cutting up cigarette papers and bus tickets to use in the spacing. Remember I was not the only one, I had to learn from somebody.
I left advertisement setting to work as a time hand on the Mirror for nearly 20 years which was a complete new experience; and so different.
Skill was in the make-up of the pages and the time it took. I made up many fronts and not once in all those years did I hear the words “Hold the front page”. The chief sub would whisper in your ear: “Sorry but we have to do a new one” and that would be about three minutes before off-stone time of 2215hrs.
I left the Mirror to start my own business in new tech typesetting shortly before the then proprietor, Robert Maxwell, went missing along with the Mirror’s pension fund.