A letter to the Editor from Graham Forster

Graham takes umbrage at the piece provided in last month's Pump by Les lawrence

Dear Ray,

I read in disbelief the article by Les Lawrence in last month's Pump. It was so much rambling drivel that I really think that the old boy has finally lost the plot. However, I think that I have identified three main topics he was trying to address but didn't have the courage to put into intelligible English.

Firstly, the Pump has a circulation that covers well over half of the houses in our six villages. It is very successful as you can see and is also borne out by advertisers sometimes having to wait before they can be slotted into the magazine. The format has changed little over the years but when something works well, leave it as it is. Don't think that we are complacent on the Pump committee, we are not, and we always discuss this subject at our regular meetings.

Secondly, Les mentions "Speak Up!", the newly published magazine in full colour. It is well-designed and free but it is a totally different animal to the Pump. It caters for 28 villages and therefore cannot hope t publish in-depth news of each one as we do for our 6. Also, the advertisers are paying about ten times what ours pay - this is, of course, to cover the enormous costs of the printing. Going the "Speak Up!" way is not an option for the Pump because most of our advertisers are at the lower level and I think that, at 50p a copy, it is incredibly good value.

Finally, I think that les is trying to get himself on the committee of the Pump by creating the post of Sales and Advertising manager. Both are adequately covered at present and his evergreen bleat about using people from outside the six villages to help administer the Pump is not going to get him anywhere. The Pump is a publication produced specifically for the six villages and therefore should be organised by residents of those villages.

Well, I hope I have addressed the points that I believe Les was trying to get over. If he cannot shed this Murdoch syndrome from which he obviously suffers, perhaps he should mount a takeover for The Methwold Times.

Graham Forster