Well done Mike, get's my vote too.

As I mentioned a few months ago the original DFMs are now in the hands of a Cinderford Town Councillor Mark Turner, who helps run the "Old Industry & History of the FoD" Facebook Group. Several members of the group, some of whom are on this Forum, have stressed the importance to conserve and digitise these old papers, especially as I'm told the microfiche copies at Cinderford library are not as good or as complete as they might be. We've suggested they consider working with the BNA in this respect, but I have no idea what Mark's plans are, I suspect it will come down to available resources.
I'll try and find out more.

Thanks again, Jeff.

Hi Jeff,

The intricacies of the finances are a mystery to me. Since the Archive was set up in 2011 as a joint venture between the British Library and Brightsolid/Findmypast (both these latter being D.C.Thomson ventures) I had always assumed that the publishing companies shouldered the cost of imaging with a view to recouping this via subscriptions and licensing to other organizations. I gather that there was some wailing and gnashing of teeth at this arrangement since other countries consider this kind of material part of their national heritage and, as such, make it available free of charge. I guess the BL did not have the resources to run a free on-line service itself.