500 and counting!
LAST month we published our 500th issue – what a milestone!
The very first Bramley Newspaper was printed in March 1975, over 45 years ago. Originally published by Don Murray, Anne Wood took over the newspaper two years later in 1977 when Don emigrated with his family to Canada and remained central to its success until her retirement in December 2011.
Throughout those 34 years there was no team of reporters, photographers or adver- tising salesmen or women – just Anne and her business partners, Frances Dickens (1977-1980), Vivien Scorer (1980-1987) and Lesley Elkington (1987-1996).
Anne’s daughter, Katharine Kessler, joined her in 2005 and, along with Anna Richardson who joined the team in 2011, has continued to run the paper since Anne’s retirement, ably supported by the design and print team at Mortons Media Group in Horncastle.
Things have moved on somewhat from the print processes of the 1970s and 80s when the pictures were developed in Anne’s bathroom by her husband Chris and all the editorial collected in a box at the Post Office and then posted off to the typesetting team at the printers. The columns of text were pasted onto double page spreads on boards for proof reading
and if any changes were needed the words would be cut out with a scalpel and glued back on – cut, copy and paste!
The introduction of desktop publish- ing in the 90s meant the process could be digitalised – and digital cameras made the job of obtaining high quality, professional pictures even simpler.
With the arrival of every new media channel there is the worry that existing ones will no longer serve a purpose. It is true that people’s reading habits have changed with the advent of the inter- net and smartphones providing access to 24 hour world news, but our belief at Bramley HQ is that these additions are an enhancement rather than a replacement of the traditional methods of delivering news.
Nothing can replace the feel of a newspaper in your hand and the neatly designed and summarised stories on the pages, with no relentless scrolling through posts in the search of relevant content. The excitement of seeing a picture of you, your children or grandchildren or their names in print is as strong as it ever was. We always try to move with the times though too and our website, digital news- paper and social media channels attract a different audience each month, enhancing what the printed newspaper has to offer.
As we reach this publishing milestone, we are delighted that the paper is still well received by our readers, and is still the most popular and widely read community newspaper in the area. Thanks to our fan- tastic and reliable team of 85 local deliv- erers, we are able to reach 11,500 houses and businesses in Southwell and the 34 surrounding villages each month.
We are also extremely grateful to all our advertisers, some of whom have been with us since the 1980s! As our sole source of income they ensure that we can continue to print the paper and be the local voice of the community. Please remember this and consider them when shopping or employing a service as they all have a great deal to offer!
The philosophy behind the paper is the same as it was in 1975 – it exists as a platform for people in the community to tell others about their clubs, organisa- tions and businesses as well as their indi- vidual news items. It is a paper for the community, by the community and will remain in existence as long as there are people willing to write for it and advertise in it.
Finally thank you to our readers, we look forward to providing you with the next 500 issues!
Katharine and Anna
Published October 2020