Hot metal may be a thing of the past for today’s media, but there are many people out there who remember it well.

It may have been more than 70 years ago, but 92-year-old former newspaper apprentice Roy Adgie can still recall those days, albeit hazily in places.

Mr Adgi dictated his memories to his daughter, Janet Poole, after reading about the Kent Messenger’s 150th anniversary this year.

Although he moved to Derby 12 years ago to be near his family, he still receives the Kent Messenger by subscription every week.

Mr Adgie joined the South Eastern Gazette in 1930, at the age of just 14. He said: “The Gazette was then in Earl Street opposite the Corn Exchange. Mr O’Conner was the boss at the time and he was also Mayor of Maidstone at one time.

“As an apprentice to Lino-type I used to wheelbarrow metal to and fro from Earl Street to the Kent Messenger, which at this time was at Week Street.

“At the Kent Messenger the lead was melted down ready to be used again. At the South Eastern Gazette there were three Lino-type machines.”

However, at the end of his apprenticeship, things almost came to an abrupt end, when, at 21, it was discovered that there was no job for him, as there was no machine available to work on.

He said: “Mr Roy Boorman said that as I had a widowed mother he would not put me out of work and would fine me jobs to do, but would only be able to pay me an apprenticeship wage,10 shillings (50p) a week.”

He later went to work on the East Anglian Daily Times in Ipswich, but came back to Maidstone to work at the print works in Tovil.

But his connections with the KM were not completely over.

“I also wrote a regular piece for the Kent Messenger on Scouting news in the district, going under the name Array, and my uncle, Earnest Adgie, worked at the KM in the composing room and was later in charge of this,” he said.

Mrs Poole said: “He dictated and spoke about this time, as he is now 92 years old and has some difficulty with his memory in the present day situation, but remembers things from his past.”