Pressmen Mark Lees and Calvin Paul have devoted most of their working lives to Black Press in Williams Lake.
Lees has worked at the Williams Lake Tribune for 37-and-a-half years. Paul started in 1986.
“I knew a couple of guys working here who suggested me because I was mechanical and that’s what I like, that it is mechanical,” said Lees of how he started and why he stayed.
For Paul, the variety has kept him on the job. “Every day is a new adventure. Things can change at the drop of a hat.”
The press has 10 units in total, most for printing colour and two for black and white. Between Monday and Wednesday the printing press produces 15 community newspapers from Ashcroft to Haida Gwaii and Prince Rupert for a total of about 50,000 copies. Bella Coola’s Coast Mountain News publishes every second week.
As head pressman, Lees said the job is not as technical as it was when he first started.
“We do more on computers now because it’s digitized. Gone are the negatives. In the past we spent a lot of time in the dark,” he added, noting technically they are classified as pressmen and lithographers. “We hung on to the end but change was good. It is easier on the system not to breathe those chemicals in.”
Eight years ago an upgrade saw four GOSS community units installed, which increased the press’s ability to print up to 16 colour pages per section.
Five people also work in the mail room preparing the papers and flyers for delivery.
newsroom@100milefreepress.net
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