Happy 140th birthday to Lancashire (Evening) Post! See our 1886 front page and a special message

We are marking a very special birthday here at the Lancashire Post - we are 140 years old.

Our very first edition as the Lancashire Evening Post rolled off the press on October 18, 1886, and it's been a rollercoaster ride ever since.

The newspaper has seen Lancashire through world wars, massive political and societal change, not to mention both national and tiny local news events, evolving throughout the years (through highs and lows) into the brand you see today.

We've uncovered some fascinating facts in our birthday research, not least that the original editor was a teetotaller - which flies in the face of the traditional reputation of historical newspaper editors. (I can't say the same). And we’ve had a very special message..

So in Monday’s paper (October 19), with help from fantastic friend of the Post - historian Keith Johnson - we are sharing the history of the LEP in a special eight-page newspaper supplement. You can also read online with new articles dropping online Monday to Friday It’s fascinating - read all about it..

These days the physical newspaper is just one element of the Lancashire Post brand, which also includes our website at lep.co.uk and our social accounts which range from Facebook to Instagram to You Tube and more.

Video production is very much part of our day job—something which would have been unimaginable 140 years ago.

The newsroom is much smaller and methods of communication have moved from fax to email and message. Metal spikes which used to sit on newsroom desks to physically hold together papers and discarded articles have unsurprisingly fallen victim to health and safety.

Computers have replaced hot metal and many now favour email to the phone. But some things remain the same: everyone pores over the latest news, a good story is still a good story, gallons of coffee is still consumed in a day. and we still love Lancashire!

To mark our birthday year, our video journalist Kelvin Stuttard sent a drone up to film some fantastic footage across fabulous areas of Preston, starting with the docklands You can watch this on our YouTube channel from first thing tomorrow - it's mesmerising seeing the city of Preston as the crow flies. And we have a whole series to follow - there will be three uploaded this week and weekly going forward. You don’t want to miss it.

We will also showcase some of our biggest stories across the years, from the Morecambe Bay cockle picking disaster to WW2 to some notorious crimes and share our symbiotic relationship with Preston North End - which is even older than we are as the club was formed in 1880.

In a new weekly series starting online on Friday, we will be showcasing Foodie Lancashire s and there will be much more birthday news on the way.

Meanwhile, we just want to say thankyou for your continued support, and to confirm we are still very much local and proud to be here in Lancashire - perhaps for another 140 years. Watch this space.

But we need your help to do so. Online subscriptions go an awful long way.

If you already do subscribe - you have our thanks - it means the world.

Thanks from the team - myself, Matt Calderbank, Emma Downey, Aimee Seddon, Paul Faulkner, Leslie Kerwin, Catherine Musgrove, Colin Ainscough, James Reader, Neil Cross, Craig Salmon, Dan Murphy, Kelvin Stuttard, Michelle Adamson and all of our contributors in any way of shape or form.

I’m off to eat cake. Nicola