Despite the bitterly cold weather more than a dozen folk turned out for the first Settle and District Community News annual meeting held at the Quaker Meeting House in Settle on November 27.
Those attending the meeting, ably chaired by Phillip Hinde, heard reports on all ingredients that go into the production and distribution of our community publication.
Editor John Drake said his aim was to produce a magazine that gave members of the local community an opportunity to speak to each other. Having only recently moved into the area he was pleasantly surprised to see just how much was going on. He was always looking for new contributors alongside those who regularly provided interesting and readable copy. He particularly mentioned the need to replace Bob Young as our regular book reviewer. Bob is stepping down due to ill health. John also encouraged local artists to consider putting forward work for the front cover . He was delighted by the local school children’s illustrations that had formed the central feature of the Christmas issue. Finally, John noted the effectiveness of advertising in the magazine, citing the fact that a number of customers using his computer business had contacted him as a result of seeing his advertisement in Community News.
The importance of advertising was also stressed by Phillip Hinde, who urged local businesses and trades people to recognise the reach of a publication that was delivered to households all the way from Ribblehead to Hellifield.
Annie Gammon, who took over responsibility for distribution from Ian Gray early in 2024, praised a well-established system by which the 60 or so volunteers took part in the mammoth task of seeing the magazine was delivered across the area. She also emphasised the need to recruit more volunteers to extend our reach and replace or cover for those who were unable to take on their rounds either on a temporary or permanent basis.
Treasurer Paul Cochrane reported that although the finances were currently in a good state, mainly as a result of collecting outstanding debts from advertisers, it was important that we maintained sufficient reserves to ensure continued guaranteed publication.
One important development over the past year has been the revamp of the Community News website, which now enables visitors to read the current and back issue on line and also provides a facility to include news items between issues. This means that people with an interest in what’s happening in Settle and District can read the magazine no matter where in the world they live.
Finally, and more formally, the meeting endorsed our new constitution and agreed that the current production team of John Drake, Phillip Hinde, Paul Cochrane, Annie Gammon, Mike Smith and Barry White should continue for the next year – though it was also said that there is no upper limit on the number of team members and that others who wished to help in production in whatever way would be welcome to join.
In subsequent correspondence it was suggested by one of our distributors that, in future, meetings should take place at a time of the year when travel from across the district is likely to be a bit easier. We are thinking about that, though as our treasurer has pointed out, our accounting year runs to October. We’ll be thinking about how to deal with that quandary – over the next few months, as well as bringing news of the community to your door.
