COMMENT
Happy Birthday to us…
This edition of Village Voice marks our
thirteenth birthday, which means that this is
the 79th Village Voice.
In late 2000 a survey went out to Old
Alresford,
Bighton,
Gundleton
and
Abbotstone to find out what villagers thought
should be done about reviving the parish
magazine. The survey results prompted an
open meeting in the Christy Hall. It was the
first time many of us had met, and there was
a lively discussion about the form a new
magazine should take.
The survey had indicated that the old parish
magazine should be replaced by a more
secular publication, embracing all residents
in the community. As we reported in the first
edition: “…our readers want a good,
interesting read, a lighter touch and a lot of
community information…”.
At the meeting, an editorial committee was
formed. Chaired by the Revd. Raymond
Tomkinson, it had its first planning meeting
soon afterwards. Jill Buss and Vernon
Walker (editorial), Sara Nicholls (layout) and
Bob Dennis (treasurer) formed the
committee, which has seen a few changes
over the years, leading to a ‘committee’ of
two (Jill Buss – editor, and Geoff Buss –
design and layout), backed by stalwart
contributors and distributors, almost all of
whom were on the original team, and without
whom there would be no magazine.
Then for a heady period we printed it at
home on a colour printer we had bought for
a song. Eventually the rise in colour printing
costs coincided with the Recession and a
decline in advertising revenue, and we were
obliged to go to a commercial printer. We
are now on our third, and hopefully last, print
company, back to black and white, and still
going strong.
We could not have survived without the
various grants we have received, and would
like to give special thanks again to all the
people who kindly responded to our
occasional appeals, plus Bighton and Old
Alresford Parish Councils, the Christy Hall
Management Committee, Arle Valley
Benefice Education Fund and Hampshire
County Councillor Jackie Porter.
Every two months we wonder what on earth
we can put in the next edition, but things turn
up, and we have never yet been short of
articles or events to publicise. So as long as
you want us, we’ll be here, old age
permitting! In the long run, though, it’s your
written contributions that keep us going. If
you don’t tell us about events and local
stories, we have nothing to publish. Enough
said. Happy Birthday to us.
Jill Buss
ARLE VALLEY
BENEFICE
Amanda Grant
We welcome a new face to the Arle Valley
Benefice. Amanda Grant joins us as Curate
on Placement (i.e. undergoing training)
working with Revd. Phil Collins.
In the early years we printed the magazine
in the St. John’s parish office. It took a whole
morning (except when there were
breakdowns, which happened quite often).
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