COGNEWS: The Best is Yet to Come
- Sep 29, 2025
- 3 min read
One day in the spring of 2024, two new friends sat in a coffee shop in their hometown of Cheadle, Staffordshire, bewildered. It had been a hell of a week.
They'd experienced the excitement of community leaders, councillors, NHS, and church leaders coming together to solve the problems of building back up a fractured community after COVID. A community that would support the poor, build up those in need, give purpose to those who had something to share, and give both a place and a voice to all. They had all hung their hats on a community centre; there was and still is a desperate need for that. That was exciting. Then, a few days later, the town council decided that they could't get involved in such a project, and as both friends were new town councillors, they considered that an order - they could not get involved either.
They were bereft, rudderless, but as the decaf coffee flowed, so did the ideas. They wondered if they might be able to do something about it, and both agreed that what was lacking was communication. One friend understood that getting a decent communication channel working would be a gargantuan task. Possible with the right mix of innovation, skill, and enough people and money to carry it out, but way too much for them to take on. The other friend, grasping only the top notes of what was needed, went away to consider possibilities. The following day, the second friend arrived at the doorstep of the other with a crude but meritable attempt at a newspaper page. The other friend realised that this they could do and do it well.
Many, many meetings and phone calls; even more hours of coding, writing, and content creation, and 18 months later, COGNEWS has become the tour de force we have today for Cheadle. Residents have a voice, community groups & environment champions have a communication channel, and businesses have a space to share their stories. It's a tiny team that creates COGNEWS, supported by hundreds of individuals in community groups, councils, essential services, businesses, and most importantly, residents.
They all support COGNEWS because it means something to them, they have a voice, and it excludes the toxic ways of many other "social" channels. It's a quiet place, a place without adverts, pop-ups, and worrying links. You won't find articles linked to Facebook, YouTube, etc., where the visitor's journey can take unexpected turns. Instead, COGNEWS puts the reader in control, choosing what they read, when they read it, and giving them the option to search for any words and over 40 topics, with live articles staying available for over 12 months. No other newspaper offers that.
Other news organisations can't link to documents, galleries, and even courses. This makes COGNEWS a powerful place to showcase your business online, via email, or in print.
It allows the reader to research their own views, reach their own conclusions, transforming the practice of framing the news into something much bigger, better—independent thought, no longer just opinion of the writer belonging now to the reader.
It's a great place to share your community news and events. It's a thoughtful space to learn and stay safe and it's delightfully attractive whatever your reading level.
It's also a place of honourable correction - we, like all other humans, can only base a story on what we know at any given time. We can't assume, imagine, or make things up, which means sometimes we don't have all the information. Sometimes we seem slow because we must wait for evidence. When the evidence comes in, we can create new posts and amendments in seconds. So no one need ever be concerned about not being heard - all they need to do is send in their view, and as long as it is factually correct, we'll share it. If we got it wrong, we'll apologise and remove the incorrect information too. COGNEWS is a place for all to be treated fairly and with integrity.
There are some sizeable plans for the future of this little local news space, but one thing will remain core:
"Shine a spotlight on everything lovely which touches local people's lives, inform on the important, shine a light on areas that need tlc in the hope that the community will find a way to fix them."
Cheadle COGNEWS is a brand of Cheadle COG Community Interest Company, listed as a not for profit at companies house, COGNEWS profits supports the activities of community groups in the South Moorlands.
Wondering who the friends are? Bernie Charlesworth & Lori Wood Williams we'll let you figure which is which!
Thanks for reading and supporting us so far, and to quote the words of Frank Sinartra "The Best is Yet to Come".
COGNEWS: The Best Is Yet to Come - created 30.9.25
