<=
span
style=3D'font-size:34.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif";color:#00B050'>Com=
municate!
News from Beds & Herts Churches Media Trust
Please feel f=
ree
to forward this newsletter to others =
Spring 2009
In this issue:
‘Cross Talk’ communicators’ conference Celebrating 150 years of pa=
rish
magazines Web hosting service: join n=
ow |
‘Cross Talk’ communicators’ conference<=
/h1>
You can book your place at the Cross Talk conference and pay by post. Alternatively, you can book online by using a credit or debit card, or a PayPal account.You can downloa= d both postal and online registration forms from www.commskit.org.uk/conference.aspFor further information, email conference@commskit.org.uk or telephone 01582 492993. |
Celebrating 150 years of parish magazinesTo mark the 150th anniversary of Erskine Clarke’s launch of ‘The Pari= sh Magazine’ in 1859, the Church of England has launched a website (= www.cofe.anglican.org/about/diocesesparishes/parishmags/) that celebrates these magazines - which, according to the Archbishop of Canterbury, ‘are the most widely read Christian publications in the count= ry’.He added: ‘A good parish magazine is a wonderful resource that places= the local church at the heart of the community it serves.’The website includes sections on:· &nbs= p; The history of church magazines· &nbs= p; In praise of church magazines - a personal view by Beds & Herts Churches Media Trust vice-president Peter Crumpl= er· &nbs= p; Views on church magazines by the editors of the Church Times and the Church of England Newspaper· &nbs= p; A prayer for parish magazine editors· &nbs= p; A list of online resources for the editors= of parish magazinesIn his remarks on the site’s home page, Rowan Williams writes: ‘Most = of the Church (of England)’s 13,000 parishes produce some sort of magazine, = and even if each issue could muster only 100 readers, that would give a total combined circulation larger than The Times, The Guardian and The Independ= ent together. But we can be confident that the readership of parish magazines= is much larger than that - particularly as some 1.7 million people attend a Church of England church each month.’He also says: ‘We owe our gratitude to all those who labour lovingly = to produce this regular shop-window for their church or parish. As a team or solo, with a generous budget or an alarmingly fraying shoestring, this is= a ministry we need to recognise and to support.’ |
|
Grants newsHowlands Baptist Church, in Welwyn Garden City, has received a grant = of £150 from the Trust to help it improve facilities for mothers and extreme= ly young worshippers.The church is installing a state-of-the-art sound system to relay services from the sanctuary to a nearby vestry set aside for the church's crèche. |
|
Trust websiteThe Trust's website (www.comms= kit.org.uk) has been redesigned. On the site you will now find details of the Trust's= :· &nbs= p; internet service for churches and Christian groups;· &nbs= p; training events;· &nbs= p; advice on how to improve your church magaz= ine;· &nbs= p; grant application process;· &nbs= p; competitions, and· &nbs= p; Communicate! newsletter. |
|
|
|
Joomla! for church websitesThe trustees of the Beds and Herts Churches Media Trust believe that church websites should be easy to update. Consequently, the Trust has set= up an inexpensive website content management system (CMS) for those who use = the Trust's Commskit web hosting operation.The CMS, provided by Commskit, uses the widely used Joomla! system. T= his system is in the public domain and does not involve licence fees.According to David Gregory, who manages Commskit for the Trust as a volunteer, the service is for those who want to run a CMS system for themselves and are prepared to take the initiative and dedicate a reasona= ble amount of time to becoming familiar with the operating instructions.Commskit will set the system up for users for a small, one-off fee and that will give them a flying start.More information about the Trust's Joomla! service and a demonstration page will shortly be available on the Trust's website, www.commskit.org.ukThe Trust hopes that this service will open up new opportunities for churches and other non-profit making organisations to run websites without all the information having to be put there by a webmaster. |
|
|
Bob the broadcasterBeds & Herts Churches Media Trust trustee and 'occasional broadcaster' Bob Little turned radio show host on Christmas Day when he joined regular broadcaster Elspeth Jackman to co-present a special two ho= ur edition (from noon to 2pm) of the Faith Alive magazine programme on Radio Verulam (92.6FM and www.radioverulam.com).Bob and Elspeth's 'double act' has proved so popular that Bob returne= d to the station to help Elspeth - Faith Alive's regular presenter - co-host t= he show's 'Valentine's Day' programme, which was broadcast on Sunday 15th February.Elspeth came to Radio Verulam having previously worked as a full time freelance at BBC Radio Leicester before being headhunted by Nottingham's Trent FM.Radio Verulam is provided by Verulam Community Radio, a non-profit company which provides a Community Radio service of music and speech for people living, working, being educated or visiting West Hertfordshire. Fa= ith Alive is the station's weekly religious affairs programme, interspersing mostly contemporary music with Christianity-related stories, messages and testimonies. |
|
|
Consultancy serviceSome months ago, the Trust decided to offer churches a consultancy service.Churches taking advantage of this service receive the services of a communications professional - skilled either in the fields of websites or church magazines. That professional provides some practical advice and guidance related to a particular project - and this should result in an improvement in that area of the church's communications.The Trust hopes that, once the project has been completed, it can pub= lish details of the project as a case study. This will disseminate the lessons= of this exercise more widely and, so, should allow other churches to benefit from this exercise too.Obviously, providing professional consultancy is not a free service! =However, in engaging professionals as part of its team of 'on-call consultants', the Trust makes it clear that these professionals will char= ge their time and efforts at the lowest end of their scale of fees.In addition, the Trust will help churches that use its consultancy service to meet these professionals' costs through providing grants - sub= ject to the churches going through the appropriate grant application procedure= .Already one church - St Thomas' in Letchworth - has begun the process= of using the Trust's consultancy service.Peter Wilcox, of St Thomas', asked for some advice on revamping the church's website.The Trust put him in touch with Andrew Walker, of Foundry Labs (www.foundrylabs.co.uk) – based = in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, but also with offices in Torpoint, Cornwa= ll.Andrew has a great deal of experience in designing all sorts of websi= tes and has worked on the St John's Church Bourne End website.To date, Andrew Walker has provided some initial thoughts and is awai= ting a response from St Thomas', Letchworth.If you would like further details of the Trust's consultancy service and/or would like to arrange for a Trust-approved consultant to work with you, please contact the Trust's consultancy co-ordinator, Bob Little - at= bob.little@commskit.org.uk= or bob.little@boblittlepr.com= |
|
|
Web hosting service: join nowThe Beds & Herts Churches Media Trust’s commskit web hosting serv= ice is continuing the grow, with churches and church-related organisations joining the service each month.Commskit is able to offer a complete domain, web and email internet package for £45 a year, all inclusive, hosted on either 'Windows' or 'Uni= x' servers.For this remarkably low payment, you receive a domain, 100 MB of web
space, 1,000 email addresses, unlimited dial-up accounts and a secure
password-protected web-based control panel for managing your account.
There is information about the service available on the Trust's websi=
te
www.commskit.org.uk or, if you prefer, you can email internet@commskit.org.uk
|