LIZ PAGE, managing director of York & County Press - publishers of the Evening Press - is moving on.

Liz, aged 46, was editor of the Evening Press from 1996 to 2003. She was the newspaper's first woman editor.

She left the company yesterday to become regional managing director of a magazine publishing company covering much of the north.

Liz joined York & County Press in 1995 as deputy editor, and was appointed editor six months later.

She became the company's publisher in April, 2003, and appointed managing director the following January.

She was the first woman president of the Society of Editors in 2001, and hosted the society's annual conference in York.

A member of York's strategic partnership, Without Walls, she was also founding chair of York's cultural partnership, York At Large, which is charged with drawing up the city's cultural blueprint for the next 20 years.

Liz, who is married with two daughters, will keep on the family home in York.

"It's a great city with lots of opportunities," she said. "There were some memorable events in my time with the Evening Press, but two really stand out.

"One was the Millennium floods and the impact they had on everyone's lives; the sheer scale of our newsgathering operation, with reporters wading through the deluge to deliver papers.

"The waters of the Foss were lapping at the walls of our office and at one stage we wondered if we would be able to print a paper.

"I also vividly remember the death of Princess Diana, when we published a Sunday edition for the first time in living memory.

"I would like to thank all the people I have worked with at York & County Press. I really have enjoyed my time here."

Updated: 11:32 Friday, January 13, 2006