Western Daily Press RIP

Before the Western Daily Press is turned into a "Metro-style" newspaper (see posting below) perhaps we can salute its glorious past.
In Eric Price, Ian Beales and Terry Manners it had three of the most passionate editors in the regional press whose verve and drive ensured the WDP won stacks of awards.
Eric arrived from the Daily Express in the 1960s and took the circulation from 12,000 to 80,000. An absolute legend. Under Ian Beales and Terry Manners the paper consistently won top awards for design and committed, campaigning journalism.
To name but one. In 1990 Western Daily Press reporters Mervyn Hancock, Brian Best and Nigel Kerton jointly won the Campaigning Journalist of the Year in the 1990 Press Gazette Regional Press Awards for an expose of the privitisation of a council's services which led to a police inquiry. Will a free "Metro-style" paper ever achieve anything like that?
I hope the Western Morning News isn't next.