Island Life Magazine Ltd June/July 2008 | Page 7

BREAKING NEWS “The Earl Mountbatten Hospice costs £7,500 a day to run, most of it raised by its shops, events and voluntary contributions. The Gazette hopes to be a major fundraiser for a cause close to most Islanders’ hearts,” said Martin. As well as Island Life, which has 116 pages and a distribution of up to 30,000, Martin started and ran the hugely successful website wightbay.com, which he recently sold to Friday-Ad for an undisclosed sum. Martin & William are shortly launching wightfrog.com, a website which will allow Islander's to advertise for free, homes and commercial properties for sale and to rent, (see page42.) The Gazette, and wightfrog.com are the start of a new organisation, which will revolutionise and galvanise media on the Island. William Smith, who is based at Spithead Business Centre, Sandown. said: “We have the vision, we have the people and we have the resources to make this happen. “It is hard work starting a paper from scratch but we are enjoying it and even having a lot of fun. It helps that we are having such a positive reaction from everyone who knows what we are trying to do. "It is especially heartening that we will be raising money for The Earl Mountbatten Hospice, such a worthwhile local Island charity." Brian invited everyone who wants to express their views and share their news with the Island to contact The Gazette at the address or phone number in the panel opposite. Martin who will be in charge of advertising sales, said "We plan to have the biggest circulation of a weekly newspaper on the Island in order that we can raise as much money as we can for the hospice. Also by having very competitive advertising rates in these difficult times we hope we will gain the support we need from all sectors of business. "We also have a great distribution network which is vital, all local outlets we have approached on the Island have been very supportive of The Gazette, including M&S, Tesco's, Hovertravel, Wightlink, Red Funnel and not forgetting our friendly local newsagents." life Contact us on: News Desk & Advertising 01983 402599 Unit B18, Spithead Business Centre Newport Road, Sandown, Isle of Wight. PO36 9PH Fax no: 01983 404819 email: [email protected] Editor: Brian Dennis Designer: Christian Warren Publishers: Martin Potter & William Smith www.wightfrog.com/islandlife 7