TODAY we celebrate a technological milestone as our Internet site continues to be a worldwide success.

For today our World Wide Web pages received their TWO MILLIONTH hit - that's the number of times they've been accessed since we became the first regional evening newspaper company in the UK to publish daily on the Internet just over a year ago.

Readers all over the world have been keeping up-to-date with the latest local news and sport via the information superhighway on their computers.

Since we went on-line, we've helped reunite families, kept Blackburn Rovers and Burnley fans living abroad in touch with their club with up-to-the minute exclusives and even helped one ex-pat living in Canada lodge his protest at plans to build a wind farm in the Ribble Valley!

As well as having thousands of readers in the UK, we now have a regular army of supporters in Singapore, America, Canada, New Zealand , Australia and across Europe. The net has helped us build bridges with readers across the globe, including;

Former resident John McLeod who sent his support from his home in Saskatoon, Canada, to local campaigners fighting plans for a windfarm in Longridge Fell.

Australian reader Steve Farnworth and Texan Tony Dunbar offering to help East Lancashire folk with foreign travel arrangements.

Californian Judi Sample tracking down her Darwen relatives.

James York of Clayton-le-Moors placing an advert in the Telegraph selling £10 computer software and receiving a call - from a reader in Arizona.

And readers are always telling us just how much they appreciate being able to look at East Lancashire news from the comfort of their homes abroad.

Evening Telegraph editor Peter Butterfield, said: "The response to our Internet site had been phenomenal.

"We are now at the forefront of information technology in the newspaper industry."

So next time you pick up a copy of your favourite paper, don't forget thousands of others from around the corner and around the world are looking at us too.

Our Internet pages can be found at:

http://www.newsquest.co.uk/

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.