The Annual General Meeting of the Whitmore Reans
Local Neighbourhood Partnership
21st September 2009
Dorothy Elliott and Nik Jones were podium guests recently at the Annual General Meeting of the Whitmore Reans Local Neighbourhood Partnership. Nik has been a Board Member of the Local Area Newspaper Group managing the organisation, publishing and supply of the community newspaper, “News: Your voice; Your views; Your news” to the residents of the Whitmore Reans area, for some time now. Dorothy and Nik attended the AGM along with other partner agencies to report on progress.
The meeting was very well supported by local residents who embraced the opportunity to express their views about how effectively the community of Whitmore Reans is supported by the LNP.
AlphaGraphics in Wolverhampton has worked with the Whitmore Reans Local Neighbourhood Partnership since June 2007. At that time, our role was purely to supply some design input and then print the quarterly local newspaper (circulation 6500), from materials supplied by the community contributors.
In a little over two years, the newspaper has become known for being a high quality publication, professionally produced with a steadily increasing circulation (currently standing at 7000). The newspaper is serving as an effective voice for the local community and also as a focus for the business community of Whitmore Reans, by way of advertisements and editorial features.
AlphaGraphics’ contribution to the development of the newspaper has developed from simply ‘print and supply’ to one where we believe we contribute as fully-fledged partners in the venture. AlphaGraphics sees the relationship with the LNP as an important demonstration of our commitment to the community in which we work and live.
Looking back, the relationship really started on a small scale: we offered time each month for our Finance Section to collect and manage the advertising revenue for the newspaper – a contribution which helped secure the next edition.
We offered the creative support of our design team, a contribution which no doubt added to the professional feel and look of the newspaper.
We managed the production schedule (agreed with the LNP) for the whole year: contributors knew what the deadlines were, ensuring that the newspaper was delivered consistently to the community within the agreed timescales.
In February 2009, however, when the absence of a key member of the LNP team (due to ill-health) was beginning to seriously impact the advertising revenue stream, AlphaGraphics Team Members volunteered their time to canvas the local business community to generate advertising sponsorship for the newspaper, and a new phase in the relationship began to take shape.
We could not have imagined how successful this would be – there are now more requests for advertising space than there is space! The goal of driving circulation to 7500, seems more achievable with every publication.
AlphaGraphics derives a huge amount of satisfaction from our involvement with the LNP. We see it as an expression of our Corporate Social Responsibility as a local business of long standing. We are proud to be part of the success of the venture and so long as the LNP feels there is a role for us to play, we will continue with more of the same!
