New Community Newspaper - Hastings Independent Press - Call

[sam_kinch]

Hi All! Me and a small group of local residents have recently decided to launch our own, community-run newspaper, with the aim of sourcing all news from local writers. We'll be publishing our free, 16 page, fortnightly newspaper from the End of February.

We've had an overwhelming response since advertising over on Facebook and lots of exciting things have been happening behind the scenes, so we've decided it's time to begin seeking submissions.

We're looking for anything that you think is important enough to be published. This can be about local history, current topical news or events, or about ongoing social issues. As well as news stories we're hoping to get sporting news, reports from cultural events or even simple letters, letting us know how you feel. For this paper to be truly FOR the local community, it needs to be BY the local community, so let's get involved!

We have a team of editors waiting to receive your stories and whilst we may not able to print everything we receive, we will do our best to respond to all messages we're sent.

As a guide please try to keep stories to a 350 word maximum, although we understand some topics will require more space.

Please send submissions to subs@hastingsindependentpress.co.uk

We look forward to hearing from you all,
Sam and The Hastings Independent Team

[Derek Jempson]

Sounds interesting - a kind of newspaper by the people, for the people. I wish you well.

[Watcher]

Please read my posts under Hastings Police perhaps you can find out the truth.

[WestfieldMike]

What a good Idea. Is it for Hastings residents only, or surrounding villages etc?

[Richard]

well I don't mind submitting reports but there has to be some feedback mechanism of reward or else it would be purely a one-way traffic.

In other words you have to give something back in return for information / stories to make it worth our while !!



Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.

[Anonymous1]

It's a community newspaper Richard, put together with contributions from the community for the community. Non profit making as I understand it.

The payoff is seeing something you've written, that you think has value, being read by the wider audience_ _ _..

_ _ _..think I'll send in an article about my collection of toenail clippings, fascinating subject.

[Richard]

not sure what people should be interested in really apart from your toe nails, G.K.
don't forget to send a picture of your feet for added interest !!

Depends how local it is:
If it is for wider villages (as said WFM) then it could include topics like the distribution of Oast Houses on farms near Hastings.
Not sure how the mag would be divided up into sections.

toenails could be under 'beauty parlour' (for the terminally mischievous)




Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.

[sam_kinch]

[quoted]
Derek Jempson wrote:
Sounds interesting - a kind of newspaper by the people, for the people. I wish you well.
[/quoted]

That's the idea Derek, yes!

[sam_kinch]

[quoted]
WestfieldMike wrote:
What a good Idea. Is it for Hastings residents only, or surrounding villages etc?
[/quoted]
Thanks Mike! currently we've got contributions on topics as broad reaching as women's struggles in Kabul in Afghanistan, and the local punk scene in Jakarta in Indonesia! So yes, surrounding villages are perfectly welcome, and positively encouraged to get involved. We've got a loose remit for submissions; as long as someone in the Hastings area might have an interest in reading it, we'll do our best to include it. This might have a negative outcome for G.K's toenail clippings_ _ _

[quoted]
Watcher wrote:
Please read my posts under Hastings Police perhaps you can find out the truth.[/quoted]
We can at least try, but might have to avoid reporting untill our legal team has been somewhat "bulked up"_ _ _

[quoted]
Richard wrote:
Depends how local it is:
If it is for wider villages (as said WFM) then it could include topics like the distribution of Oast Houses on farms near Hastings.
Not sure how the mag would be divided up into sections. [/quoted]
As mentioned, we'd be interested in submissions from all over, provided locals to Hastings and St Leonards might like to hear it.
We're going out at 16 pages initially (with a view to expanding as soon as possible) and we're trying to devote the lions share of that to our current topical news. After that we have pages for local arts and culture, music and entertainment, local history, food and drink, childrens news, readers letters, horoscopes, and a small section for alternative local sports. The lay-out will probably change on each edition as we're largely reliant on volunteered submissions (although we do have a small number of "staff writers") and as such it's tricky to plan too far ahead.

As for feedback, we're doing what we can to maintain a back and forth dialogue with all contributors, but owing to our voluntary nature it might sometimes take a while for us to respond. We've all got day-jobs, but in the future we hope to be funded by charitable grants (we're set-up as a not for profit social enterprise) and we also hope to eventually be able to pay a small amount for submissions. We'll only be able to do that with the help and support of the communities around us.


As a little update, we've recently been in talks with Hastings Pier and White Rock Trust who have kindly offered us the use of some office space in what was once the Observers old offices!

[Richard]

Hi Sam,

I am sure the format will change and evolve before settling down.
no doubt there will be a section for local business concerns and crime as well as community events and fundraising ventures.

Geoff (Admin) tried to get local business interested in hosting a webcam on a building locally to show a view in Hastings Town or on the sea view somewhere but nobody was interested, even though they would get free advertsing of their business as a host.

We tried to get HPWRT interested in a webcam to showcase the redevelopment of the Pier and they expressed interest but nothing more has come of this to date.

Perhaps if you know of a building where we could apply a webcam and advertise the Community Newspaper into the bargain ??

just a thought !!

Richard







Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.