A people-powered events calendar!

Did you know that a small group of our volunteers have been steadily working on a what's section for West Leeds Dispatch since before last Christmas.

It's one of the things I'm proudest of throughout the eight years WLD has been running, because there's a story behind it.

The idea came from a community reporters' meeting a dark and chilly evening at our community newsroom at Bramley Lawn last November. The volunteer community reporters who attended were brimming full of ideas and one of the things they were most passionate about was them setting up and running a what's on section to shine a light on all the brilliant events and groups in West Leeds.

After all, how else could people know what's going on across the 11 or so communities we cover in the west of the city?

Led by Bramley residents Noelle Williamson and Julie Botham, the project involved several meetings, asking Peter - our Farsley-based volunteer - to sort out the design and to get the calendar (which we had to pay for) working efficiently, and all in what he laughingly calls his spare time.

As Noelle said at the time: "Essentially, this is intended to be a directory of community and commercial events, groups and activities in West Leeds - a one-stop information service for all West Leeds Dispatch subscribers, covering everything from toddler groups to national tour gigs. "

After a few technical issues, we had a soft launch in January.

And we've been steadily growing since then. When our initial volunteer team had to step back due to other commitments we were lucky that Win Roddy offered to step in a couple of months ago, backed by contributions by our dedicated team of community reporters.

Win's done as marvellous job of keeping it updated. It's amazing what people can achieve when they come together - a what's on calendar written and maintained BY the people of West Leeds FOR there people of West Leeds.

A people-powered calendar, no less!

My thanks to everyone who has submitted events and to all the volunteers for their hard work. And none of it would be possible without your ongoing support, which we are all very grateful for.

Check out our what's on section here:

• John Baron, editor