Even with ever-increasing use of the Internet, there will continue to be a need for hard-copy periodicals far into the future. This is partly because there are many people who do not use the Internet, particularly amongst the elderly, and partly because hard-copies can be easier to distribute & handle than their virtual equivalents.

One problem faced by some of these periodicals is the one faced by many of our local community-support groups: the difficulty in finding people to do the work. These periodicals are not easy things to produce and they require a lot of time, effort & expertise to do properly. The problem is even worse for (most) religion-motivated groups than it is for secular groups simply because their congregations are diminishing. That they continue at all is testament to the dedication of their supporters and to the needs those supporters are trying to satisfy.

For historical reasons, many of the local parish magazines/newsletters are managed by the local PCC (Parish Church Council), rather than the secular (Civil) Parish Council, and have a focus (major or minor) on church-related matters. That may well be reasonable but we politely suggest that, in an age where the role of The Church is much reduced from what it was a hundred years ago, PCCs should not be shy of involving non-church members. It does appear that most PCCs have already taken this point onboard but some could and perhaps should think more on it.

Advertising plays an important role in financing most of these periodicals. Even though some editors have reduced the task of obtaining & collating advertisements into little more than a once-a-year activity, that can still require significant time & effort. We would be interested to find-out whether or not the editors of different periodicals might like to work together on that. [We understand that some of them already do co-operate informally but we are thinking of something a bit more structured.] One suggestion we have heard is that different magazines could use the same 'advertising insert'. That could interest advertisers who could be offered a wider distribution area without having to deal with different editors.

We understand that there is already some collaboration between the producers but that there is scope for more. A suggestion we have heard is that some of the parish groups could and perhaps should work more closely together on these magazines, not only on collating advertising (as mentioned under Thought3) but also on printing and other matters. We appreciate that this can be a delicate matter with some people being particularly keen to ensure that local parish identities are not lost. Consequently, we accept that it is not for us to push or reject this type of suggestion, merely to draw attention to it.

These periodicals are useful sources of information for people who are interested in finding out what is going on very close to them - but many in the area would like to have easy (cheap if not free) access to all such sources that might be relevant to them. We understand that some of those responsible for producing these magazines have already thought about supporting them online. Whilst there is nothing wrong with that, it could lead to significant additional work (and, without free help, not insignificant cost). There are many many examples of web sites (and Facebook pages) that have been set up and kept going for a while only for that to be found to be unsustainable so that they fail within a year or so. Having several periodicals come together to address this might lead to the finding of a sustainable solution. This could lead us to EVENT03 ('Supporting our local online Events Diary providers'), perhaps even to reconsidering the original purpose of that event ('The development of an Online Shared Diary of local events') or something similar.