October Editorial

Ray describes the anniversary edition and highlights items from past issues

Hello again!

Welcome to this our 30th Anniversary edition. As you will see in the following pages, so many people have expressed their appreciation and sent their best wishes for the future, that it makes your Pump team feel very humble. But the plaudits are not just for the current team; the strength and attraction of The Pump has been generated by numerous people over the 30 years of its existence. Reading back in the archives, the Pump has experienced good times and some very trying times; twice it came close to collapse before being rescued by people who cared about our Community magazine. I thank them all.

I have included some snippets from earlier editions which I found fascinating. I was also pleased to see poetic praise of at least one of my predecessors. Poetry is not something we get much of these days although Bessie Chawston has promised to start writing some for us. Perhaps the pupils of James Bradfield School would like to try their hand at writing some verses for us?

Uniquely, we have two crosswords this month. We have our usual monthly Prize Crossword sponsored by Stoke Ferry Corner Shop and we have a special "Anniversary Crossword" sponsored by The Village Pump. I can promise you some real head scratching for the Anniversary competition; but do give it a go.

The Village Pump Annual General Meeting will be held in Stoke Ferry Village Hall at 7.30pm on Thursday 16th October. It would give us all a tremendous lift if readers and contributors from all the villages came along to give us their support. We would dearly love to recruit a couple of more committee members - especially an Advertising Manager. But no one will twist your arm; just come along and enjoy the "craic" and a glass or two of refreshment.

Finally, editing and publishing this Anniversary edition has been both challenging and fun. Researching old copies right back to 1978 has been a real eye- opener. Most surprising has been the changes in village life; the numerous clubs and past-times have dwindled over the years to a number that can now be counted on the fingers of one hand. But that is the way of the world. We must just make our best endeavours to keep our communities thriving.

Ray Thompson