Community Newsletters?

My village has a monthly newsletter. We would be lost without it. It has information on local activities and local problems. Our parish council reports back to us through it, as does the local policeman.

We turn to the small ads in the parish magazine when we need tradesmen and now have a network of local people who respond far better than any bigger organisations when we need them.

Why not use your magazine to get more people involved in running it. When you cease providing it, that is when everyone will wonder what happened to it and how much they used it, but it will be too late.

FlicketyB

Ours is a 12 pager, A4 size half a page of advert half page article, We always have our Post Office on the front page , we want to keep him going, Our local councillors...four of them page 2 and our local MP and the churches that want to put their service times and activities on same page..Next What's On as many of the local activities as we can cover days, dates, times. Try to get local council activities covered and Wardens and organisers to write me articles, We devote the last page outside cover to our police station and NHWatch news. If we can find something going on at our local school do a spread on that etc etc. We really do try to get outsiders helping, have frequently had appeals for help in producing the letter and delivering it, by comparison to some, circulation is small 2750 copies . But when it's only the two of us it can be hard work and people promise articles and don't send them, advertisers the same so there is a lot of chasing to do.

I have called at possible local advertisers , plumbers,electricians, decorators but find that some say that they don't need to advertise as they end up with too much work !!! and no time to do it.

How do you get people to come forward to help?

bimbadeen

Advertise in the Newsletter, notices on local noticeboards, word of mouth, contact local organisations like WI, British Legion.

In the end if no-one comes forward, announce its closure.

It is very hard when you have worked hard doing something for many years to see it come to nothing because no-one will takeover, but sometimes that has to be accepted. I make the last remark with feeling. For about 5 years I and a group of friends ran a Saturday Club in our local town for a children's charity. It was time consuming but much appreciated, but no one wanted to take over from us and in the end we announced that it we would cease to be organisers from a certain date and the club would close unless other people came forward. They didn't, the club closed, and everyone bemoaned its loss. As one of the organisers I consoled myself with the knowledge of the excellence of the club when it existed and that when it went it was missed. You may need to do the same.

Unfortunately we no longer have a British Legion...closed and never had a WI I would have joined if we had...a friend thinks that TV has a lot to do with lack of volunteers, people come home from work and eat and then settle in front of the TV or computer nowadays and don't want to move .

Yes we had a very successful Youth Club at a local church run by two ladies, took no nonsense from the kids and through illness had to call it a day and couldn't get anyone to take it over...one good Youth club lost.

Have done the advertising for help , had one young boy come forward for one edition and no more . A friend on a nearby estate has been trying with council help to get a club off the ground, youth, adults, food parcels etc etc and had the same success or lack of, no support from helpers and no support from people to attend even with loads of freebies.

Thanks for your comments much appreciated.

We have a village newsletter that comes out every 2 months, and I really enjoy it! The regular contributors include:

W.I.
Playgroup
Primary School
College (private/public school)
3 local special interest clubs
Up-dates from village hall committee inc. forthcoming events
News from Neighbourhood Watch and our PCSO (very useful warnings about potential scams and wrong 'uns!)
The Church & The Chapel (spoilt for choice in this village!)
Regular reports from 2 locations of the previous 2 months rainfall

There are probably others too, but can't think of them. Mr P was very proud to get a mention in one edition regarding the fact that he had contacted the Council about a notorious accident blackspot that there had been a petition about. Didn't do any good, even though we were only asking for one of those mirror things.

Sometimes people submit recipes, or book reviews, some idiot even recently submitted a poem about her cat

But as ever, it does rely on a team of volunteers to actually put the thing together.

We have a 24 page monthly newsletter called the Village Voice, printed by the County Council printing company. Photos, ads, a letter from our MP, community news, police reprt, etc. every month.
Last month there was a list of the people wishing to be MEPs.
There are always pictures of what's been happening in the schools, so it's trying to spot kids we know.
There is also a timetable for the village bus, which travels round three estates.
We have three churches, Phoenix.

We have a town newsletter, although sadly it seems to have turned into a party political flyer on behalf of the Labour council. It used to be quite interesting but more recently seems to be full of articles promoting individual councillors and what they have achieved in the previous month.

We receive every three months a newsletter from our Housing Association which gives us all the local goings on for the next few months,included is a wordsearch which has a prize donated by a local trader,a write up of any Local Champions (maybe bowls/cricket/fundraisers) tec.
A section on safety in the home and recipies using in season fruit & veg,and a great article called "Over the Garden Wall" where locals can meet up at a designated meeting point and tour the area whilst giving their opinions on what will make the area a better place.I hope you can keep your newslatter as to some people they can be a very valuable source of information.