RONI Skye is celebrating her 50th birthday this year, and has a unique keepsake of the celebration – a month of bound copies of the Worcester News from the year she was born.

In 1965 we were reporting about uproar about the state of pavements in Sidbury, Worcester; a car showroom had a brand-new Vauxhall Viva on sale for £579, and in our cartoon strip Dr Kildare was facing tough questions from a colleague.

Now you too could join Roni, who works at the Worcester News, in owning copies of the newspaper that have particular significance to you.

All the stories the paper has covered since it was launched as the Evening News and Times in 1935 are now safely stored on microfilm at the Hive library in Worcester.

That means it is no longer essential to keep our collection of old newspapers as a historical record.

We would, though, love to see them go to a good home.

We think our readers, the people who have loyally made us part of their lives over the last 80 years, deserve a small token of our gratitude.

So if you want a particular month (or more than one) from the paper's archive you can have it – for free.

We have copies from 1935 until 1992 (the year that we stopped preserving the paper in bindings). The only copies unavailable are the first few months of 1935, which we are keeping. There may also be the occasional volume that has gone missing over the years.

The newspapers come in substantial leather-and-linen bindings. Each bound volume contains one month of newspapers. Some are the dimensions of the present-day Worcester News, others are more than twice that size.

Many are in excellent conditions, others have weathered the years less well.

They are being offered on a first-come-first-served basis and, initially, each person will be limited to six volumes (though we will review this depending on demand).

You must be able to collect what you want from our offices in Hylton Road, Worcester. We are unable to deliver.

Please note our offer to give away free volumes from our archive will close on Wednesday, September 30, so don't delay – contact us today!

To reserve your volume, and arrange a collection time, email Roni Skye at roni.skye@midlands.newsquest.co.uk or call her on 01905 742265.

We'll be asking if we can take a picture of you with your bound volume and asking you why you want it (though you don't, of course, have to tell us if you don't want to). We'll then publish all your stories and pictures in a special report to celebrate the dispersal of our archive among the people to whom it means most.

We have already secured the future of our collection of Berrow's Worcester Journals. Historic copies of the world's oldest continuously published newspaper are now in the care of the Hive library, Worcester, and the city's civic society. These too are available for public inspection on microfilm at the Hive. Visit thehiveworcester.org for information.