Thirty years ago, when Col. Oliver Stedall, Cdr. ‘Rob’ Long and Mr Dudley Hopkins discussed the possibility of a village magazine for the Wychwoods, could they possibly have envisaged that it would still be going strong all these years later?

Men of Vision
We feel sure that those men of vision who started it all off in 1979 would be as proud of the magazine today as they must have been then.
So how did it all happen? The original aims of the magazine were to let people know what was happening, give information about local organisations and provide a means of advertising for local businesses.

The magazine was launched with the April/May issue 1980.
The three parish councils and two firms donated a total of £78, a sum which was soon augmented by some energetic and confident individuals who sold subscriptions and advertising space in a magazine that had been conceived but not yet printed. Letters were circulated to every house in the Wychwoods, Fifield and Lyneham, resulting in 660 annual subscriptions. The sale of advertising space netted almost £700, ensuring that costs would be covered for the first year.  Articles arrived and a lady was recruited to type the waxes for duplication (does anyone know who this lady was?). Mrs Dorothy Cotsell provided the art work for the front cover, which was in use until we introduced the colour cover in 2005. Anne Iredale’s seasonal drawings were introduced on the back cover in 1981 and were finally replaced with photographs in 2007.

Early Days
An editorial board was formed in 1980 with Col. Stedall as Chairman and Dudley Hopkins as Business Manager responsible for selling advertising space and collecting in money. Dulcie Arundell was the Treasurer and Gwen Ray was Secretary. ‘Rob’ Long took on the job of editor until his death in December 1982. Dennis Swann spent many hours fashioning advertisements in line with the wishes of our advertisers. David Johnson provided many of the early photographs and still holds an extensive archive. George Longhurst joined the team in 1987, first as Business Manager, taking over from Dudley Hopkins and then as Publisher, after Col. Stedall’s death in 1989.

In those early days 850 copies were printed. The cover price of the magazine was 12p per issue. Today we have 1325 copies printed, most of which are delivered to local subscribers or sold in the shops and garages. Doreen Barnes regularly posts about 90 copies to readers all round the world. The size of the magazine has grown from 16 pages to our current 68 pages. The cover price has been held at 40p per copy since April 2005, excellent value we are sure you agree.

Reg Ray’s Stapler
By 1991 Don Salter had computerised all the advertising and prepared the editorial matter for printing. The typewriter was left behind and ‘desktop publishing’ was king.  Putting the printed pages together and stapling them ready for distribution, became quite a social event in the early days, with teams assembling the magazine page by page ready for the final touch with Reg Ray’s stapler. This saved thousands of pounds in production costs and all the volunteers received were a cup of tea and a biscuit!
In 1992 the Editorial Board appealed for younger volunteers to shadow those in charge of advertising, distribution and production. Heather Derkacz and Mike Porter offered their services and are both actively involved in the magazine to this day.

The Current Team
The current editorial team took over in December 2002, when Rosemary and Don Salter left the village to live nearer their daughter. Christine Halliday  remembers her feeling of panic when Rosemary handed over a set of cardboard pages, with cut-outs for the editorial, and the words “This is how you do it. Good luck!” Without the help of Liz Clarke-Watson and Jan Harvey the magazine would have foundered and sunk at that point, but here we are six years later, still going strong. It is a tribute to the committee that they have supported us and our new ideas and have never once said; “But we don’t do it like that!”

Colour Me  Beautiful
New production methods have been introduced but the most noticeable change must be the colour cover and occasional double-page colour spreads. With the aid of digital cameras, personal computers and email communications, articles are prepared on their templates, photos tweaked by Alan Vickers and inserted. The whole magazine is then assembled as a single electronic file and sent down the broadband line to our printers. Within a few days boxes, packed with 1325 copies of the new issue, arrive in the village and all that has to be done is allocate  copies to our stalwart distributors for dropping through letterboxes.

How about YOU?
Distribution numbers have increased steadily. We receive enquiries for subscriptions from all over the world on our website: www.thewychwood.co.uk mostly from people who have a past connection with the area. Mike Watson and Fiona Walthall have archived articles from all the previous issues onto the website which receives about 300 ‘hits’ a day!

And the future? We do need to recruit new, younger members to the team, to ensure that the magazine goes on for another thirty years at least. How about you?