---
title: An End-of-Year Message from our CEO
description: An End-of-Year Message from our CEO, Paul Sugden, including exclusive news on our 2026 Digitisation Grant.
image: https://blog.townswebarchiving.com/hubfs/Paul%20Sugden%2c%20EOY.jpg
---

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- [Digitisation](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/digitisation/) 
    - [Bound Volume Collections](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/digitisation/bound-volume-collections/)
    - Registers, guard books, journals, diaries and more
    - [Archive Collections](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/digitisation/archive-collections/)
    - From index cards, maps, posters and reports to letters
    - [Photograph Collections](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/digitisation/photograph-collections/)
    - All 35mm slides, glass plates, transparencies & photos
    - [Film Collections](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/digitisation/film-collections/)
    - Including aperture cards, microfilm and microfiche
    - [Audio Visual Collections](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/digitisation/audio-visual-collections/)
    - From Betamax, compact audio cassette and CD to VHS
    - [3-Dimensional Collections](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/digitisation/3-dimensional-collections/)
    - Including 3D and 2D object photography and VR tours
- [Data Capture](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/datacapture/) 
    - [Audio Visual Transcription](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/datacapture/audio-transcription/)
    - Make audio searchable by transcribing content to text
    - [Handwritten Text Recognition](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/datacapture/handwritten-text-recognition-htr/)
    - Make handwritten text searchable through automatic text recognition
    - [Optical Character Recognition](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/ocr-scanning-service/)
    - Make typed text searchable with accurate data capture
    - [Data Entry](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/datacapture/data-entry/)
    - Make ambiguous records fully searchable with data entry
    - [Handwritten Transcription](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/metadata-transcription-service/)
    - Make handwritten text searchable through transcription
- [Publishing](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/publishing/) 
    - [Digital Collections](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/archive-management-software/pastview/welcome-to-pastview)
    - Manage, publish and share digital collections online
    - [Digital Records](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/archive-management-software/chronicle-cemetery-management/)
    - Reimagine the digital management of cemetery records
    - [Virtual Tours](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/virtual-reality-tour/)
    - Bring internal spaces to life digitally with a VR Tour
- [Industry](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/industry/) 
    - [Academic](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/industry/academic/)
    - Futureproof education with digitally enabling online resources
    - [Bereavement Services](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/industry/bereavement/)
    - Counter operational costs with digital control and management
    - [Business and Corporate](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/industry/business-and-corporate/)
    - Protect brand value & discover the power of digital management
    - [Cultural Heritage](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/industry/cultural-heritage/)
    - Harness the value of collections with financial autonomy
    - [Public Sector](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/industry/public-sector/)
    - Combat damage and loss with robust digital duplicates
    - [Military](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/industry/military/)
    - Respectfully and globally mark significant figures and conflicts
- [About](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/about) 
    - [Our Vision & Mission](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/about-us#vision-mission)
    - Supporting collections to thrive in the digital landscape
    - [Our Values](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/about-us#values)
    - Integrity, Empathy and Truth – Our commitment to you
    - [Meet The Team](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/about-us#team)
    - Dedication with a personal touch – names and faces!
    - [Careers](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/recruitment/)
    - Passionate about culture and heritage? Join the team!
    - [TWA Digitisation Grant History](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/digitisation-funding-grant/grant-history/)
    - From our very first winners to our latest success stories
    - [Partners](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/partners)
    - Trusted organisations offering associated services
- [Our Work](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/our-work)
- [Blog](https://blog.townswebarchiving.com/)
- [Contact](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/contact/)

[![USE QUOTE CALCULATOR](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/2351684/56d4945e-1152-47db-9f08-37cd61531382.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/2351684/56d4945e-1152-47db-9f08-37cd61531382)

[![TownsWeb-Archiving-Logo-Black-Stacked](https://blog.townswebarchiving.com/hs-fs/hubfs/TownsWeb-Archiving-Logo-Black-Stacked.png?width=260&name=TownsWeb-Archiving-Logo-Black-Stacked.png)](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/)

- [Digitisation](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/digitisation/) 
    - [Bound Volume Collections](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/digitisation/bound-volume-collections/)
    - Registers, guard books, journals, diaries and more
    - [Archive Collections](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/digitisation/archive-collections/)
    - From index cards, maps, posters and reports to letters
    - [Photograph Collections](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/digitisation/photograph-collections/)
    - All 35mm slides, glass plates, transparencies & photos
    - [Film Collections](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/digitisation/film-collections/)
    - Including aperture cards, microfilm and microfiche
    - [Audio Visual Collections](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/digitisation/audio-visual-collections/)
    - From Betamax, compact audio cassette and CD to VHS
    - [3-Dimensional Collections](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/digitisation/3-dimensional-collections/)
    - Including 3D and 2D object photography and VR tours
- [Data Capture](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/datacapture/) 
    - [Audio Visual Transcription](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/datacapture/audio-transcription/)
    - Make audio searchable by transcribing content to text
    - [Handwritten Text Recognition](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/datacapture/handwritten-text-recognition-htr/)
    - Make handwritten text searchable through automatic text recognition
    - [Optical Character Recognition](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/ocr-scanning-service/)
    - Make typed text searchable with accurate data capture
    - [Data Entry](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/datacapture/data-entry/)
    - Make ambiguous records fully searchable with data entry
    - [Handwritten Transcription](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/metadata-transcription-service/)
    - Make handwritten text searchable through transcription
- [Publishing](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/publishing/) 
    - [Digital Collections](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/archive-management-software/pastview/welcome-to-pastview)
    - Manage, publish and share digital collections online
    - [Digital Records](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/archive-management-software/chronicle-cemetery-management/)
    - Reimagine the digital management of cemetery records
    - [Virtual Tours](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/virtual-reality-tour/)
    - Bring internal spaces to life digitally with a VR Tour
- [Industry](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/industry/) 
    - [Academic](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/industry/academic/)
    - Futureproof education with digitally enabling online resources
    - [Bereavement Services](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/industry/bereavement/)
    - Counter operational costs with digital control and management
    - [Business and Corporate](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/industry/business-and-corporate/)
    - Protect brand value & discover the power of digital management
    - [Cultural Heritage](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/industry/cultural-heritage/)
    - Harness the value of collections with financial autonomy
    - [Public Sector](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/industry/public-sector/)
    - Combat damage and loss with robust digital duplicates
    - [Military](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/industry/military/)
    - Respectfully and globally mark significant figures and conflicts
- [About](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/about) 
    - [Our Vision & Mission](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/about-us#vision-mission)
    - Supporting collections to thrive in the digital landscape
    - [Our Values](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/about-us#values)
    - Integrity, Empathy and Truth – Our commitment to you
    - [Meet The Team](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/about-us#team)
    - Dedication with a personal touch – names and faces!
    - [Careers](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/recruitment/)
    - Passionate about culture and heritage? Join the team!
    - [TWA Digitisation Grant History](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/digitisation-funding-grant/grant-history/)
    - From our very first winners to our latest success stories
    - [Partners](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/partners)
    - Trusted organisations offering associated services
- [Our Work](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/our-work)
- [Blog](https://blog.townswebarchiving.com/)
- [Contact](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/contact/)

[Home](https://blog.townswebarchiving.com/) » An End-of-Year Message from our CEO

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# An End-of-Year Message from our CEO

| **Published By:** [Paul Marks](https://blog.townswebarchiving.com/author/paul-marks) **Published:** December 22, 2025 **Last Updated:** January 9, 2026 |
| --- |

![Paul Sugden, EOY](https://blog.townswebarchiving.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Paul%20Sugden%2c%20EOY.jpg?width=796&height=461&name=Paul%20Sugden%2c%20EOY.jpg)<https://conference.archives.org.uk/?>

# An End-of-Year Message from our CEO, Paul Sugden

 

As we head towards the end of the year, I wanted to say thank you for trusting [TownsWeb Archiving](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/) and [PastView](https://pastview.com/) to support your organisation.

We know this hasn’t been a straightforward year for many, coupled with some personal challenges that have been shared with me, too. The resilience that has been demonstrated is inspiring and I hope that when these stories are shared with me and my company then our ethos of truly caring and attempting to help has come through. What’s stood out to me most during these conversations is how consistently pragmatic and determined you and our staff have been in finding ways to stay positive and ambitious.

At TownsWeb Archiving, we’ve continued to invest so we can support you better, by growing our technician and software development teams, building new technology and features to improve how we deliver service, and scaling our business support, sales and marketing functions in order to ease and also speed-up the help that you need when you most need it.

Our purpose remains true to when I founded the firm: helping our customers succeed through practical advice and service, built on strong relationships that encourage empathy and transparency in everything we do.

Founded in 2006, we will be celebrating our 20th Anniversary next year and we will be organising some ‘extra’ fun activities throughout the year. I would like to invite you to help us celebrate this quite substantial milestone in the company’s history, and also contribute and join us at our organised events. Please come along!

Lastly, 2026 marks the 10th annual [TownsWeb Digitisation Grant](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/digitisation-funding-grant/), and we promised it would be bigger and better than ever. I am delighted to announce that instead of our usual three grants of £3,000, we will be offering three funding grants of £10,000 each! Our Match Funding Pot will also return, offering up to £1,000 in match funding for all other eligible applicants.

In addition, we will be showcasing our past winners alongside the 2026 recipients in a new TownsWeb Digitisation Grant portal, hosted on our PastView platform. This will provide an immersive way to explore the digitised collections from both previous and future winners, made possible through our annual digitisation grant funding.

Whatever 2026 brings, both personally and for your organisation, may I wish you the very best of health and happiness.

Paul Sugden,

*CEO & Founder of TownsWeb Archiving / PastView*

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