With the Piping Inverness event over the weekend I wanted to share this article purely for the headline which I believe perfectly demonstrates the value of an experienced sub editor.

Sub editors, aka subs, are the ones who lay out the pages of a newspaper and knock our articles into shape.

However in recent years with the move to the use of tempted pages – where reporters write directly into pre-designed shapes – the major newspaper groups have taken the step to get rid of subs – as was the case when the Scarborough Evening News went weekly in 2012.

However, a good sub editor will have the ability to design an eye catching page, complete with a witty and clever headline, which will hopefully attract the reader and persuade them to buy a copy of the paper.

It was my first week at the Inverness Courier and I was impressed that they still had subs despite using a system that used templated pages.

I wrote this article about businesses welcoming visitors for Piping Inverness to the city, as you can imagine hotel bookings were looking good, and I also covered the championships the day after publication.

THERE was a taste of things to come in the High Street yesterday lunchtime as Australia’s Knox Grammar School Pipes and Drums Band was drumming up support for tomorrow’s Piping Inverness extravaganza. 

The inaugural event, which incorporates the European Pipe Band Championships, takes place in Bught Park and is expected to attract more than 20,000 people to the area as well as in excess of 4000 pipers and drummers. 

It will be the first in a three-year deal which is set to bring a multimillion-pound boost to the local economy each time it is held. 

Hotels and guest houses have experienced a flood of enquiries for accommodation with most expected to be fully booked over the weekend. 

Inverness Hotels Association chairman Emmanuel Moine, manager of the city’s Glen Mhor Hotel, said they were fully booked for the weekend and it was very good. “We will have a very successful weekend indeed,” he said.

Zsolt Jakri, the manager of Pentahotel Inverness, said it was also busy hosting the current champions – the Inveraray and District Pipe Band – as well as event officials.

Douglas Phimister, co-owner of Oakvilla Guest House in Harrowden Road, said it was fully booked, adding: “We had to turn people away.”

City-based event specialist LCC Live is the main organiser. Bands that compete for the title of European champions will be judged by the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association.

The event received £17,000 from the Inverness Common Good Fund.

Les Kidger, director of LCC Live, said: “Piping Inverness will bring over 20,000 visitors to the city, showcasing all that Inverness and the surrounding areas have to offer. The event will also generate a significant economic boost to the local economy each year.”

From The Inverness Courier on Friday, June 28, 2019.