The Magazine has Survived
When I wrote this piece for the October edition of the parish magazine, I thought I was probably writing for the last print edition. I am delighted to say that I was wrong! The print version of the October edition landed on my desk on 24th September, and that very evening I was telephoned by our new editor. I very nearly did not take the call; it was late, the incoming number was not recognised and I was in a Zoom meeting at the time. I’m so very glad that I did take the call.
So the new editor is Matthew Price from Southport. He has written a little article introducing himself on page 28. As I am sure you have already realised, he has some professional skills in publishing. He uses the Adobe InDesign software used by professionals and by our former editor Alison Burley. Matthew already edits a magazine for Lund parish in the Diocese of Blackburn. He enjoys it and has been keen to take on further parish magazines. He searched the internet for possibilities and discovered that we needed an editor. He does charge a fee, but it is remarkably modest and I am confident that magazine will remain financially viable. It has been a pleasure to work with him so far. From my point of view, it almost seems too good to be true, but I have not found the catch yet!
On the subject of financial viability, we do need to save a little bit of money and the obvious way to do this is by reducing the number of pages in the magazine so that it costs less to print. There are places in this edition where Matthew has experimented with a two-column layout, which facilitates a smaller font size, and this saves space. We have also omitted from this edition much of the non-local material. Matthew and I will be very interested to receive your comments and feedback on these changes.
In the October edition, written when I thought the print edition of the magazine was coming to an end, I set out arrangements for an email version of the parish news. I am still keen to move forward with this email news bulletin because I recognise that many people, especially younger people, find it more natural to receive information through their phone, than through printed media. The Revd Linda Carter has kindly agreed to send out the emails, which should be little more than explained links to news and publicity already visible on different websites. The first email will go out around 1st November. Please do sign up with Norma Aslin [email protected] receive the emails.
So, for those people who wish to contribute material for the parish magazine or the Online News emails, there are two key email addresses:
for Revd Linda Carter and the email version of parish news.
for Matthew Price and the print edition of the parish magazine.
In the email addresses “bclandp” stands for Baddesley Clinton, Lapworth and Packwood.
So I am delighted that we are able to move forward in this way. It will be interesting to see how the two different approaches develop. I hope that they can be of real service to the local community.
With my prayers and best wishes for all the people of Baddesley Clinton, Lapworth and Packwood - Canon Patrick