Buckden - a Huntingdonshire Village

THE BUCKDEN ROUNDABOUT 185 CHAPTER 15/ THE BUCKDEN ROUNDABOUT Brenda Steadman The story of Buckden’s community magazine is told by its founding editor, Brenda Steadman. She pays tribute to the hard work her fellow volunteers put into publishing and distributing each issue, so it is appropriate here to do the same for her: no magazine can survive for long, let alone for thirty years, without a dedicated and enthusiastic editor. he first Buckden Roundabout was delivered to all 886 houses in Buckden in September 1979 and has continued to be delivered each month to every household - without missing a single issue. Over the years the village has increased in size and currently some 1300 copies are printed each month, with forty of those going to the neighbouring village of Diddington. To start at the very beginning, the idea of a community magazine was raised at a meeting of the Buckden Joint Churches Committee in February 1979, chaired by the vicar of St Mary’s Church, Canon Stanley Griffiths. The other three churches in the parish were represented by Father James Fischer (Catholic), the Rev. Christina Le Moignan (Methodist) and the Rev. Christopher Rule (Baptist - the High Street Baptist chapel was then still in use). But it was Canon Griffiths who was the chief instigator. He felt there was a real need for a magazine in which details of all village activities could be published, and that such a publication was within the resources of the churches, provided a keen editor and editorial committee could be obtained. The proposal was unanimously carried and the following month an inaugural meeting, to which a representative of each of the four churches was invited, was held at the temporary vicarage in Perry Road to discuss the running of such a magazine. Things then began to happen at a rapid pace. Over the next three months the committee (Janice Church, Elizabeth Baker, Joy Mackenzie and Brenda Steadman, with Stanley in the driving seat) had not only received the backing of the Parish Council but had decided on the name: The Buckden Roundabout . They had negotiated with a local artist to draw up a design for the cover incorporating the Buckden roundabout junction. This effective logo included a circle of hands, depicting the ‘Hands of Friendship’. From then on it was like a rollercoaster ride, with so many aspects to be taken into consideration. It was decided that the size of the magazine should be A4 and the number of sheets for each issue should be approximately five, giving ten sides for copy. The printing problem had been solved by the generous gift of a small Roneo duplicating machine, but someone to operate it still had to be found. Prospective advertisers had also to be approached to cover the cost of the coloured covers, which were to be professionally printed each month. The number of houses in each road had to be counted, and each road would need at least one willing volunteer to distribute the magazines. The Parish Council had provided a much appreciated donation of £100. This and an anonymous cheque for £150, along with sponsorship by the four churches, provided the magazine with the purchasing power for the paper, etc. The monthly cost of producing the magazine was estimated to be approximately £30 (this figure included the covers). A typist was found and an editor was persuaded to take on the somewhat onerous task of putting together the contributions for the first issue. Another willing volunteer had agreed to the printing taking place in their home, and an appeal was made for anyone with a bit of time on their hands to help with the collating each month. All the village organisations and clubs were notified of the new venture and were T