The Church Magazine is called ‘Contact’ and it is published on a monthly basis. There are eleven issues each year with a double edition covering July and August. News, puzzles, amusing anecdotes and dates for your diary as well as interesting articles are all included.
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How the Contact Magazine is put together ………
The remainder of this article is an edited version of what was written by Stella Petitt and details what goes on to facilitate the magazine’s production.
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Each year in February all the people who advertise in ‘Contact’ are contacted to thank them and ask if they would like to continue for another year (April-March). We ask if they would like to update their advert and ask for a donation towards production costs and church funds. Since the establishment of an Editorial Team, Carol Gregory has agreed to take on this task.
When all the adverts for the new year have been confirmed, including some new replacements, they are passed to Garth Newton, who has taken on the role of editor to include them as he compiles the magazine each month.
Another annual job is collecting the donations from church members.
The monthly task of preparing ‘Contact’ begins as soon as the current issue is published by preparing the regular pages….
1. The diary page
2. The front cover.
3. Regular contributors are also contacted to verify that articles, poems etc will be forthcoming.
4. St Mary’s subscribes to a website called ‘Parish Pump’ which is produced especially to help editors of church magazines and supplies articles, pictures, cartoons, puzzles and ‘smile lines’. Whilst preferring to use items of a local interest, it is extremely reassuring to have this facility available and often prompts ideas for articles that can be written by people locally in our own congregation.
The editor is always very pleased to receive items or ideas – don’t wait to be asked!
Other things included are reports on social or fundraising events that have taken place or adverts for events to come and also a puzzle of some kind, funny stories and a page for the children (all quite often, although not always, from Parish Pump).
Finally, when all is laid out and ready, it is double checked and proof read (Editor – although invariably something unforeseen still slips through) before it is printed and collated in the Cantelupe Centre office ready for publication on the last Sunday month.
A few days after publication the magazine is included on the church’s website.