It was around 20 years ago that St George’s leased its first photocopier, specifically for the printing of St George’s News. The deal was that the magazine would pay its way and cover the cost of the photocopier lease. It was envisaged that the magazine would be the primary user of the machine… but it immediately became an indispensable piece of equipment, the magazine becoming only a small proportion of the copy count.
Back then, every page of the magazine had to be printed separately, with a collation team putting it all together and stapling it manually. Each time the photocopier has been replaced it has been a big step forward, and for some years now the copier has been able to collate, fold and staple the magazine automatically.
The lease arrangement results in a replacement photocopier every five years. It was five years ago that we had the decision whether to have the capability of printing in colour. We thought it might come in useful on odd occasions. How wrong we were, the colour feature has been used extensively and now we could not imagine being without that ability.
Unfortunately colour printing is hugely more expensive, and so St George’s News has until now always been in black and white. But the photocopier has just been replaced again, and this time there is a tariff which makes it affordable for the magazine to move over to colour whilst still meeting the cost of the photocopier lease.
So here it is. The first trial issue of the new style St George’s News. Colour means that we can refocus much more on using photography to record St George’s ministry whilst still retaining the regular features. The new A4 format gives more flexibility for the layout and design.
St George’s News must be one of the very longest established St George’s institutions, we are unsure how far back it goes but it was certainly around well before the time that the current church was built in 1970. It is a record of church life and events, and an archive which since 1997 has been permanently and readily accessed on the website.
We hope you enjoy your new magazine.
Photographers - please help!
With St George’s News focusing much more on providing a pictorial record of St George’s life and ministry, we need lots more photographs. If you are a keen photographer, or if you have just taken a good photo of a church event on your mobile phone, please email it over to us - feedback@stgeorges.church
We cannot guarantee that every photo we receive will be published, but a good supply of photographic material will be very helpful indeed in compiling the magazine in future.
