Happy New Year Blackwoodians!
We have another jam-packed issue with lots of history, reading & photos from our very own paparazzi, Peter Donnelly & Brendan Hehir.
As we move into 2019 Brendan & I have been making decisions about how to manage The Blackwood Times into the future. We’ve decided it’s time to hand the paper on.
We first published The Blackwood News in June 1, 2008 after the editor of the Blackwood Newsletter had to give it up for personal reasons. We changed the format from 2 or 3x A4 stapled pages to 20-32 pages in an A3 saddle stitch format. We also developed a website & have consistently had up to 20K downloads per month.
In June 2013 we changed the masthead to The Blackwood Times because, as a bi-monthly paper, we felt the paper was more of a historical document than a news resource. We also made the online version colour.
In December 2014 we ran a “Hands Up” campaign calling for volunteers to help us with various tasks necessary to run the paper. That worked really well for a time but people get busy & some move on & we slowly lost most of our helpers. Last year we began looking for a group of Blackwoodians who would like to take the paper over. A number of people have kindly offered to help us in various ways, but we a looking for a long-term solution where we can hand the responsibility on.
We will support a transition group in whatever way we can to develop a viable plan to hand it over. We will publish until the mid year issue &, in the meantime, I’m calling a meeting for anyone interested working on a plan to meet at the pub on February 22 at 7pm.
We have no preconceptions about how this may pan out, or what the future of The Times looks like or if it has a future in this digital age. In an ideal world if there was a committed group of 6-8 people as the core group the work per person would be minimal. We will train in all the moving parts that go into each issue.
Leaving you with lots of food for thought, I hope you enjoy this issue. Cheerio.
~ Jinny Coyle (editor)
Download the February March 2019 issue of the Blackwood Times here: FebMar’19. With more than 6 pages of photos, who can you spot who you know? Of course all our wonderful contributors articles are scattered through-out the issue.
Please consider supporting our future publications by donating when you download … this helps to pay for printing & other costs associated with publishing our Community paper. Download your FebMar’19 colour issue of the Times … (6.4mb)’
If you’re in Blackwood, pick up your copy from Friday evening from
- Martin Street Coffee
- Blackwood Hotel
- Blackwood Post Office (Jindarup)
- Garden of St Erth
- Blackwood Caravan Park
- Greendale Hotel
- Red Beard Bakery
- Trentham Petrol & Stuff
- Radio Springs Hotel (Lyonville)