We're Backing Newport in 2020 - here's why

Our aim is to share all the positive news about our city and highlight why it is a great place in which to live, work and do business.

Here Argus editor Nicole Garnon explains why We're Backing Newport.

AS we enter a new decade, and with so much going on in the city, we feel it is time once again to shout about all that is good about Newport.

Back in September 2016, we launched our first We're Backing Newport campaign. That was always intended to be a one-off and a short project.

But so much has gone on in Newport since then, and there are so many plans still to come to fruition, we felt it was time to rekindle that campaign - and this time we aim to keep it running all year long.

And of course this year we will be moving the South Wales Argus and our sister weekly papers back into the heart of the city. We will be not far from where we started 127 years ago, in new office space being created as part of the Chartist Tower regeneration project.

We can't wait - and bringing more than 200 members of staff into Newport will, we hope, help the city centre businesses we so want to celebrate

It is often the case that negative voices can be the loudest, and that negativity breeds negativity.

We want to make sure that in 2020 that is no longer the case in our city, and that the positive voices are heard as loudly and more often than the naysayers.

We want to shout about all the regeneration work that has gone on, and is still going on, in and around the city centre.

We want to celebrate the many businesses big and small which have set up in Newport in recent years. Some have contributed hugely to creating a much more vibrant restaurant and nightlife scene, others are part of a burgeoning network of high tech businesses in Newport, many of which go under the radar.

Picture Ian Agland, South Wales Argus Camera Club

We want to shine a light on them and on the growing self confidence in the local arts scene, from the diverse and wonderful shows at the Riverfront, to the fantastic and growing Art on the Hill exhibitions, to the Newport Rising group which is breathing a whole new lease of life into the Westgate Hotel.

And we also want to celebrate the role sport can play in putting Newport on the map. Newport County AFC are off on their travels this weekend to take part in the third round of the FA Cup, a tournament which has brought so much excitement to Rodney Parade in recent years. Who can forget the evening last February when Manchester City played at a sold-out Rodney Parade, and the national publicity that secured for the club and for Newport?

Newport Torchlight Chartist March. Picture: Kamila Jarczak

Newport has much to be proud of. On the days of the Food Festival in the autumn, the Big Splash in the summer and the Christmas lights switch-on, the city comes alive.

Of course Newport has its problems. But so does every other city in the UK.

But what it also has is great potential.

In recent years the city has shown itself more than capable of staging major national events. Just look at the numbers of people who descend on the city for the ABP Newport Wales marathon, which will be staged for the third time this year in April.

The hugely successful Westfield Health British Transplant Games held last summer earned plaudits from across the country and again brought thousands of people to Newport.

Staging that one event also fostered a special spirit of co-operation for working together between the many partners who were involved in making it such a memorable occasion.

Newport City Council officers and politicians, Newport Live, Gwent Police, Aneurin Bevan University Health Board and many, many others, including the South Wales Argus, all played their part in an event which has left a lasting legacy, as Newport was named only the second Donor City in the UK.

These are just the sort of things we should be shouting about.

Picture - Charles Dawson, South Wales Argus Camera Club

We want to see Newport flourish and we want to make sure that all those helping to make that happen get the recognition they deserve.

Over the year we will be publishing articles highlighting some of the city's success stories in the worlds of business big and small, but also in the sphere of sport, art and culture.

But let's not forget also the proud history of this city. Newport helped shape democracy through the Chartist Uprising but we also have a fascinating industrial history and, in our view, we have a fascinating future.

The construction of the International Conference Centre at the Celtic Manor Resort has huge potential to boost the local economy. It is already leading to the creation of several new hotels in and around Newport.

But at the heart of this campaign will be the people who live and work in Newport, and over the coming weeks and months we want to feature your stories.

So, if you have something to celebrate, get in touch, help share the We're Backing Newport message, and let's make this campaign work for us all.

Write to us, email us, or join in on social media using hashtag #backingnewport

Whatever the post Brexit future holds for Newport and Wales, we want to show that our people and our businesses will work together to handle it.

Let's all back Newport.