The Bathford Bulletin, the monthly newsletter for the village of Bathford was from 1992 until December 2007 edited and produced independently by Kenneth Spencer. Independently, that is, of any other organisations in the village. Notwithstanding that independence, it was always produced for all organisations and residents of the village.

However, on 27th November 2007, the Bathford Communications Group read an unsigned and undated statement to the editor, which is reproduced at the bottom of this page, in order that readers are aware of exactly what has happened.

On this page, we have left, for you to read, download or print, the  previous issues back to 2001.

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003

The response to each point, and his conclusion,  are given after the statement.

The Bathford Communications Group
C/0 Bathford Parish Council
Parish Council Office
Bathford
Bath

Dear Kenneth

We would like to thank you for your proposal setting out your vision for the future of The Bathford Bulletin. This document has been studied in varying levels of detail by members of the Parish who have received it.

We do not intend to dwell on the content of this document as it is felt that this will not be constructive or helpful at this time. It is clear from this, and also from emails that you have sent to members of Bathford Parish Council Communications Committee, that you are not willing to work with any other individuals or groups in the direction or production of The Bathford Bulletin.

We have been speaking with individuals and organisations since September to gauge their views of the future for The Bathford Bulletin, and it is clear that they want to see changes. But they do not wish to see the inclusion of large quantities of advertising, they also want to feel it is a community publication and their ideas will be listened to and discussed freely.

An important feature of any community magazine is that it reflects the views of the community, and the community feel that they have a say In the direction and content of it.

As a consequence of these views, the comment in the Parish Plan and comments made by yourself in your last email to the Group, It is now time for change. We feel it is the time for The Bathford Bulletin to become a community publication. We would like to thank you for your work over the last 15 years which has been much appreciated, however The Bathford Communications Group will with immediate effect and for the interim, be responsible for the publication and editorship of The Bathford Bulletin.

The Bathford communications group

The editor's response was as follows. Most of the points were put to the Communications Group after the statement, but some additional comments have been added afterwards as he considered the events further.

1. "... not willing to work with any other individuals in the direction or production of the Bathford Bulletin."
I have always made it clear that I have been strictly independent in my approach to the Bulletin during the 15+ years as editor. My comments on this point are quite simple: Since the creation of the Communications Group in 2006, I considered that the role of the Communications Group should be to support and promote good communications in the village, not to impose a burdensome and intrusive set of rules and obligations upon the editor.

In fact, after the meeting, I had to come to the conclusion that it was the independence that was most feared and that the prospect of further independence of the Bulletin led to this action. It could be described as a "coup".

2. " But [individuals and organisations] do not wish to see the inclusion of large quantities of advertising ..."
There has never been any mention of "large quantities of advertising" in any of the editors proposals. It has however been stated that, in order to provide for the Bulletin becoming financially self-sustaining advertising income, along with subscription sales (for those outside the village) and donations,  would be needed.
It had always been stated that such advertising would be sensitively placed.
The objection to advertising cannot and will not be sustained, as the Communications Group will discover, as the Quartet Community Foundation have stated to the editor that they would expect the Bulletin to become self-sustaining as part of their understanding of the basis of their award. Furthermore, advertising provides a useful service to local businesses, and ensures that local residents are aware of services that are available locally.

There is no doubt in my mind that this objection to my proposals is utterly fallacious and part of the general confabulatory nature of much of the statement.

3. "They also want to feel that it is a community publication ... "
One of my intentions when I took over the Bulletin in 1992 was to move it from being exclusively a church newsletter to becoming a village and community publication. That has been achieved as I have always striven, and have succeeded, in getting a wide range of village organisations and individuals to feel that they can use the Bulletin for publicising their particular interests.
Indeed, when an attendee of the Communications Group recently commented, during discussions following a Communications Group , that it might be unacceptable for the Bulletin to publish details of a hypothetical recruitment meeting of a religion other than Christianity, (Islam was mentioned), or a variant Christian organisation (Christian Science was mentioned), presumably in view of the church newsletter history of the Bulletin, I was silently quite unable to find myself in agreement.
In fact I have never failed to publish a contribution from any part of the community and would not do so, as long as I judged the contribution to be within the law.
It was mentioned verbally that moving away from the village in 2005 meant that it was no longer appropriate that I should produce the Bulletin for Bathford. I regarded this as a construction simply to support the desire of the Group to see me give up the role as editor.

4. " ... and [that] their ideas will be listened to and discussed freely."
I have always invited comment from the readers and the contributors. All I have done is to object to the approach of the Communications Group, which more recently has been to resist my independent inclination in editing the Bulletin.

5. "An important feature of any community magazine is that it reflects the views of the community, and the community feel that they have a say In the direction and content of it."
All contributions to the Bulletin always have come from the community. As editor, I have never written the Bulletin: I have edited it, and produced it. All content has come from the community. All readers and contributors have always been welcome to make comments on how they would like to see the Bulletin develop. The most recent attempt to seek opinion was in October and November when an online survey was set up.

Once again, I can only view this paragraph as fallacious and as a constructed reason for seeking my withdrawal.

Additional Comments

It was put to me after the statement that I might like to agree to accept the statement, and so leave the role as editor. In other words, that I might be willing to state that I have voluntarily left the role.
I replied that, to be true to myself, I would not accept the conclusion, nor the main thrusts of the statement, as I have served the village as editor of the Bulletin for so many years, with never a failure to publish an issue every month. I also stated that I was extremely disappointed with the statement as I have enjoyed making such a contribution to communications in the village, and that I considered that there was no reason for me to cease doing it. Indeed I was more than disappointed, I felt, and will feel for a very long time, deeply hurt by my treatment.
My feeling is that my only crime was to assert my independence.

You can read the paper which apparently provoked the Communications Group from this link. Bathford Parish Council was awarded £1,536 by the Quartet Foundation, in an award made specifically to cover the entire cost of producing the expanded Bulletin, at least well into 2008. The editor's paper was concerned with setting out how the Bulletin could be made self-sustaining so that it could be continued in an expanded form even after the award was spent.

One more thought occurred to me after the meeting: the Communications Group did not appoint me as editor. The Parish Council did not appoint me. So was it within their purview to ask me to leave the role? I leave you to form a view of how such a sequence of events can take place and can be accepted.

After giving so much time and effort, with no financial support for my role as editor, I consider this to be a nasty little episode that has left a very bitter taste in my mouth.

Kenneth Spencer 27th November 2007 kenneth@kaspencer.com

Back to first page [2008301]

This site, and its contents, except where otherwise stated, are copyright KA Spencer (Software), from June 1996 on.
No part of the site may be used elsewhere for any purpose whatsoever without permission in writing.
Comments to: webmaster@bathford.org.uk [20041101]