Earlier this year shortly after I had the honour of taking on the editor role here at News Shopper I made a pledge to give as strong a voice as possible to you, our loyal readers and residents of our local areas.

I made an appeal to recruit some new columnists and opinion providers, and through that we have been able to launch a selection of great new features in the paper and on our website.

These have included regular pieces on wildlife, pet care and famous faces as well as the Opinion Column featuring a different guest writer each week discussing a bugbear of theirs or a topical issue.

We’ve also launched our recurring features called Good Causes and Discover which profile the great work of charities and ‘hidden gems’ we think you should visit.

On top of all these, we’ve continued showing off the work from photographers in our camera club and we’ve got the Your News page where you’ll find community news articles that have been sent in.

I would now like to repeat my invitation to you to get more involved in News Shopper In a number of ways.

Firstly, I want to publish lots of your letters so the page in the newspaper can fully live up to its Debate Shopper title and our online comment section can be as lively as possible.

So if you want to have your say on a local issue, comment on one of our stories or raise awareness of something that matters to you, email your letters to newsshopper_letters@london.newsquest.co.uk

I’m still keen to hear from more potential columnists so if you’re someone who always has a view on everything or has a passionate interest in something you’d like to write about on a regular basis, get in touch with me on simon.bull@london.newsquest.co.uk

More guest writers to take the Opinion Column slot are also most welcome. Pick a topic you feel strongly about, whether it’s local, national or a general pet peeve, and then write around 350 to 400 words arguing your case. These contributions can be emailed to me too if you would like to take part.

Finally, a reminder of how charities, clubs, schools and community groups can submit stories and photos.

Maybe you’ve got an event coming up, a recent success to share or a fundraising appeal you want to promote. These and more community news items can be sent through the contribution upload page at newsshopper.co.uk/sendyournews

Simon Bull, News Shopper editor