The Burton Echo is Available NOW: Accentuating upon the Positive
If you get a copy, please tag us and we’ll share on our socials.
By Scott Milligan Editor
There’s so much to be positive about in Burton. Yes, we have challenges. Every town and village does. But what I’ve discovered over the last two years through my time at Burton Radio is a huge community of people quietly doing wonderful things for one another, free of any agenda, just being cool and creative.
Whether it’s entertaining the public with brilliant, original songwriting, working long hours in soup kitchens, searching parks at 6am for reports of rough sleepers or pioneering new life-saving technology, you can’t say we’re short of like-minded people wanting to do positive things with the ninja skills they have.
We feel genuinely protective when we hear less than positive comments about Burton upon Trent. There’s so much good happening here, every day, all of the time. It’s time for all the great ambassadors of the area to be centre stage with a foot on the monitor.
This first edition, and all of the future seasonal copies of the Burton Echo is about Accentuating the Positive, waving flags, banging drums. Our local facebook groups and newspapers do a fine and enthusiastic job of reporting bad news, and we want the Burton Echo to, well echo, the goodness that often gets hidden behind the click-bait.
East Staffordshire Borough Council, who’ve backed Burton Radio since 2019, have kindly supported the very first print run of ten thousand copies, so that you can get a sense of what people are doing right here, right now.
Inside, you’ll find stories of artists, community organisations and business adventurers, many of whom joined us on the Snoozy Breakfast Show (7–9am) on Burton Radio or any one of the 30+ shows we air every day at the station, including articles from the online version of the Echo which launched in January 2025.
“So if you’re weary of the negativity you hear or scroll past, the Burton Echo offers a refreshing, unbiased spotlight on all the good happening just under the radar. ”
Without the initiative of the station founders Matt Reid and the notorious J-Man, none of this would be possible. They’ve worked tirelessly since 2019, organising and editing a bazillion shows. Always encouraging, polite and supportive. They set the gold standard on how things could be and it’s the reason why they have so many supporters (and why I agreed to join two years ago.)
The reponses from businesses, charities and the public has been really overwhelming and a reward for everyone’s hard work.
Positivity is infectious!
You can grab copies from the following key areas:
(Smaller amounts are available all over Burton and the surround villages)
BURTON
The Brewhouse Arts Centre
Branston Golf & Country Club
The big Sainsbury’s
Pete Oakley’s Guitar Superstore
Wing Wah
Cineworld
WHSmiths
Burton Albion
Burton Rugby Club
Esso Petrol Station, A5121
Texaco Petrol Station, Ashby Road
Shell Petrol Station, Derby Road
Tesco
Tesco Petrol Station
Coopers Tavern
OUTSIDE BURTON…
365 Bargains, Swadlincote
Bright Side Vets, , Swadlincote
Aldi, Overseal
One Stop, Stanton Road
The Dragon, Willington
Green Man, Willington
Rising Sun, Willington
Feel free to take photos with the papers and tag us on www.instagram.com/burtonecho.newspaper and www.facebook.com/teamburtonradio
Have a positive community story to share? Email Tom Drysdale at tom.drysdale@burtonecho.co.uk, and we’ll do our best to bring it to life!
Please help Burton Radio and Burton Echo support the community through radio, online news and social media. Both initiatives are via a not-for-profit organisation. We support local artists, community organisations and businesses.
Your donation will help the crew at Burton Radio & Burton Echo give free social media promotion, radio interviews and news articles for local community organisations, artists and fledgling businesses.
