Published: Wednesday, 3rd February, 2010 5:21pm

Welcome to the newlook Westmeath Independent

The Westmeath Independent has always been renowned for the depth and breadth of its news and sport coverage. Throughout the years- ever since 1846 in fact - we have aimed to continuously improve our product and to ensure quality and value for money.

And this week, we are proud to unveil a newly-redesigned Westmeath Independent.

The fresh new style, we feel, allows us present our quality content in a more accessible and readable format.

We believe - and we hope you agree - that the new look is more user-friendly, easier to read and gentler on the eye, whilst retaining much of the traditional content that has served us well throughout the decades. We hope we have succeeded in providing engaging journalism presented in surprising and innovative ways.

The design uses new-to-the-market fonts that are both modern and suitable for the broadsheet format and it provides an improved platform for our advertisers to promote their businesses.

This design serves to better showcase our full-colour format (The Westmeath Independent is the only all-colour regional newspaper in this area and is printed n our state-of-the-art printing presses in Navan). It also allows us the opportunity to illustrate our quality photography, provided by Ann Hennessy and Paul Molloy.Of course, it still, in many respects, retains a familiar feel. All the readers' old favourites remain, despite the dramatic change of appearance.

Independent People, our popular series of interviews with well-known local figures, continues, though it has been given a facelift. Gearoid O'Brien's Athlone Miscellany - a much-loved feature in our columns for over 20 years - also receives a new appearance. And Kieran Harten continues his unbeatable in-depth coverage of the Moate region. Our health and fashion pages, which help to promote local salons and boutiques, also benefit from a revamp.Sport has a pivotal place at the heart of the Westmeath Independent - and will continue to do so.But there are changes too.

We have introduced dedicated pages for Athlone's growing South Westmeath and South Roscommon hinterlands and we are proud to unveil An Athlone Life, a column of titbits dedicated to the people and places that make our area so special. Our team of reporters have consistently provided the best in local news and sport coverage and now we also offer a renewed focus on comment and analysis of all the important local issues.

As a voice for the community, the Westmeath Independent is always keen to hear your views. We welcome letters to the editor (See Page 20) as well as opinion pieces by local groups and organisations.

We have also invested in our web presence and encourage readers to interact with the paper, through our website, www.westmeathindependent.ie, which is rapidly becoming a key part of our media offering.

Whether on line, or in print, our pages are open to you, our loyal readers. We particularly would like to know your views on our redesign. Tell us what you think. We hope you enjoy the change.