We’ve reached the end of the road – The Charlton Champion will close this spring

We’ve covered well over a thousand stories, and brought you all kinds of news about Charlton. But this one’s about us. Site editor DARRYL CHAMBERLAIN has an announcement to make.

I’m sad to say that after nearly 13 years, The Charlton Champion will be closing this spring. We’re making this announcement now in case anyone wants to pick up where we have left off, and to give warning to the kind people who have helped fund the site over the past few years.

The main reason for this is that I no longer have enough time to do a community news site for the Charlton area justice. Our sister website, 853.london, has grown over the past few years and demands much more of my time than it used to.

Running two websites on a part-time basis was always a tall order – and eventually something had to give.

I’m enormously grateful to those who have helped with the site over the years – particularly Neil Clasper, who has devoted much of his spare time to keeping things running when I have been away – and to all those who have donated their hard-earned cash to make sure the bills are paid.

But over the past couple of years it has also become harder to convince community groups and other organisations in Charlton that having a locally-run, locally-owned website that can carry their news is a useful thing.

I’ve always been a strong believer that our local media should be run from SE London, not Silicon Valley. But many local groups choose to promote their activities on social media outlets, helping them grow their reach for advertising, rather than letting us know about them so we can do the same.

Ultimately, that makes what we do unsustainable.

Trying to fix this and (re)build the relationships needed would take time that I can no longer put in. We’ve lasted for much, much longer than other comparable websites – but all good things must come to an end. The archives will stay live for the foreseeable future, and Kevin Nolan’s peerless match reports from Charlton games will continue elsewhere – keep your eyes peeled for more details.

Unless, of course, you want to pick up the baton. I’d be very happy to help host and contribute to the site if others are willing to pick it up – there is some money in the pot here at Flyover Media CIC, the community interest company which runs this and 853, to help keep it going.

Talk to me if you’re interested – email charltonchampion.se7[at]gmail.com. But if nobody steps forward, we will be closing in May. Until then, we’ll keep going as normal.

To those who have supported us, thank you.