#1.
[.docx file]
Our first brochure was produced to accompany our first Societies Fair which was held on 18th November 2018. As you can see from its Contents page, it included some information about what we were doing in general and about the Societies Fair in particular, some articles about some of the issues that concern us (in this case: Loneliness, for which 'The Three Ages' was relevant, and Community Transport), and some of the organisations we think people should be aware of (the Community Halls and those groups that 'Support the Supporters'). It is likely that future brochures will take a similar approach.
We did make a mistake with this brochure. Although some of the production costs were covered by our sponsor, STIRNET LIMITED (see below), in an attempt to reduce the deficit we charged 50p for the brochure. That seems to have reduced its appeal to The Public. We decided to make all future brochures FREE so that people will pick up a copy when they see one without hesitating to consider whether or not it will be worth paying for. We hope that they will then read it, enjoy it and benefit from it, and tell others about it. That does mean that we will have to attract enough sponsorship to cover (most of) their production costs, possibly also some advertising though we are keen to avoid advertising if possible. Should you be interested in sponsoring a future brochure, please contact Peter@GoldenValleyGroups.UK.
#2.
[.pdf file]
The first edition of our second brochure was released on 22nd November 2019. As referred to in News Item #06, our original intent was to release a second edition sometime in late March 2020 (there was probably also going to be a third edition in July), but the coronavirus pandemic led us to postpone the release and rethink our approach to Event05 because the main addition to that edition will be an Open Letter that encourages pubs to organise activities that bring strangers together. In the circumstances, that would have been distinctly inappropriate!
Although the front page of this brochure draws attention to the point that it is intended to help people find Groups to Join & Things to Do, we think of it as our first 'Open Letters Brochure' as, apart from the normal inclusion of a hard-copy version of our Groups Directory, it includes Open Letters that aim to:
* promote our Online Directory.
* encourage people to support their local events, with this being relevant to both Event03 ('Supporting our local online Events Diary providers') and Event04 ('Supporting our local information-providing periodicals').
* seek help with preparations for a Societies Fair in 2020.
* A 4th letter, our 'Pub Challenge', will be included in the second edition of the brochure. As mentioned above, the production of that edition has been postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic. [See News Item #06.] The new Open Letter will refer (possibly indirectly rather than directly) to both Idea#10 (on developing a loose equivalent of a U2A with emphasis on its potential for both socialising and volunteering) and to the recent/forthcoming additions of the Business & Pub Categories in our Online Directory (see Activities Index, note 3). It was originally expected to launch Event05 but we went ahead with that without waiting for the brochure.
Most of the costs of printing the brochure have been covered by the kind sponsorship of NFU MUTUAL and STIRNET LIMITED. They have enabled us not just to print a one-off edition of the brochure and make it available in good numbers across South-West Herefordshire (at least) but also to be able to anticipate releasing different editions of it, over a period of several months, as input/feedback is received from the Public.
