A Potted
History of Roade News
The forerunner of
Roade News was an Information Leaflet published by the Parish
Council; this was more or less the same as the Contacts Directory
of today. The editor for this Leaflet was Mrs Pam Bottomley
and her telephone number was then 647.
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The
first Roade News was published in the Autumn/Winter
of 1973/4; it ran to eight pages, four of which reproduced
the Information Leaflet. The magazine’s first
Editor was Ms P Meadows and a Mrs Muffett and Mrs
Perry were her dutiful assistants. The first page
of this leaflet can be viewed by clicking on the image
to the left.
The
lead article was the Council Topics, which mentioned
the Cemetery and the ever-present problem of dog fouling.
Following on from this was a piece about Sewage Disposal
and that there had been a spillage near the railway
line, it was discovered that the cause of this was
a “Mace” carrier bag tangled around the
pump.
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38 trees had
been planted in Hyde Road, Bailey Brooks Close and Stratford
Road.
All of the trees (except for one given by the Women’s
Institute) had been donated to the village for having won
the large villages section of the Tidy Village competition.
Also mentioned were the Churchcroft
Open Space, and the problems of litter and vandalism around
the village, which we were warned was a fineable offence.
The work on the Community Centre
(now called The Village Hall) was well under way, and Mr Cecil
Bottomley (its Secretary and Founder Chairman) anticipated that completion
would be by mid April 1975.
In the years 1974, 75 and 76,
there were four editions of Roade News each year but from
1977 to 1989 there were only three editions per year published.
From 1990 to the present time,
it has returned to four editions per year coinciding with
the Seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter.
There have been one or two strange
little quirks, for instance we had 2 editions of No.59 and
no edition No.60 and for some reason we never had an edition
No.73.
The quality has improved significantly
over the years and now more and more photographs are being
used thanks to advanced technology.
Roade News is well supported
by local business people who take advertisements in it.
Apart from the printing Roade
News is produced entirely by villagers. Material is collected
from local organisations and villagers regularly make suggestions
or send in articles. Items of interest from a wider field
are also included.
Roade News is still published
under the auspices of the Parish Council but the production
team is entirely independent of the Council and all eight
members of it are volunteers. Over the years all those involved
have worked unstintingly to ensure that the information, news
events and general content have improved beyond all recognition
from those very early beginnings. So from a folded A4 information
sheet in 1973/4, we arrived at a 64 page informative and entertaining
magazine in the summer of 2003.
We are very proud of Roade News,
which draws together the whole Community.
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