ONCE A MONTH

Once a month, for 10 months of the year, I spend a few hours putting the parish news magazine together. It's a magazine that is indeed very popular, with the people of the parish. Each village or group send their articles to me and I move it around to fit the layout which is set out by village. Sometimes it's very stressful trying to fit everything in to these sections. Sometimes I have to have a general interest page to give me more Flexibility.
The magazine is a very Important link for the community, it enables them to spread the word to all of their upcoming events whether it be for The benefit of the church, the local schools, nurseries, football clubs, mothers union etc etc. fundraising events benefit greatly from this form of advertising.
I enjoy putting the magazine together, designing the layout, finding suitable clip art to highlight individual events to try and make them stand out, as everyone's event is as important as any other.
The commercial side of the magazine is what keeps it afloat. I sell the advertising on an annual basis and this to funds the magazine. Advertising is mainly smaller local businesses, these businesses do very well. It seems the people of the parish like to support the advertisers. I don't know if this is because the businesses support the magazine or because the people of the parish have more trust because its a parish magazine. The magazine is a5 in size and is normally a 20 page booklet, sometimes 24.
I do know it is a very valuable publication that
The people of the parish would miss.
I have done the magazine for so long that I can't remember how many years ago it was that I started but I'm sure it was back in the 90's.i wonder how many other parishes have this form of communication. Finally the magazine of
Course has gone electronic and is posted on armathwaites Facebook page each month. But 1000 copies are printed each month and distributed throughout the parish by volunteers. This is a tradition that I hope will continue ad infinitum.