The Villager Online
The
Villager is a bi-monthly newsletter cum magazine, which is delivered
free to all households in Brightwell-cum-Sotwell. It has been going
since the mid-1970s, and is produced entirely by voluntary effort. A
computer may have taken over some jobs, but production still involves
slaving over a hot printer. Many similar parish magazines are contracted
out for printing. Since its beginnings, The Villager has been put together in the
same way - by a group of people patiently parading around a table and
gathering up the pages in the right order for stapling. Assembly now
takes place in the Stewart Room rather than on someone's kitchen table,
but the principle remains the same.
In an article written in 1992, to celebrate The Villager's 100th edition, the then editor, John Biggs, wrote :
"The magazine started when a group of enthusiasts decided to
replace a somewhat ailing church magazine of limited circulation with a
magazine for all members and sections of the Parish. In stories that
start like that the next sentence is usually something like : "Who would
have thought that it would grow into the giant enterprise we have now?"
In fact today's Villager differs very little in spirit or appearance
from the unpretentious early editions. This modest constancy is, to me,
one of the attractions of The Villager."
The print may be a little less smudgy, but John Biggs's words still hold true.
Articles and letters for publication are always welcome, and can be sent to the editor, Alison Leigh, by e-mail thevillagerbcs@gmail.com.
Follow the links below to view current and past editions of The Villager (in .pdf) format:
Flower and Produce Show Results
(includes list of advertisers as there was no print edition during the covid-19 epidemic)
August/September 2017
June/July 2017
April/May 2017
February/March 2017
December 2016/January 2017
October/November 2016
June/July 2017
April/May 2017
February/March 2017
December 2016/January 2017
October/November 2016
The .pdf format was introduced in August 2014; selected articles from
editions prior to August 2014 can be viewed by clicking the link below,
to
The Villager Archive