sKIBWUKRI 门忘
HRONICLE
KIBWORTH
“_SMEETON WESTERBY
KING“「S NORTON
ILLSTON
1SSUE 75
“_GUMLEY
THE LANGTONS
-“WISTOW STONTON WYVILLE
SAhDDINGTON
GLO0STON
G4AhULBY
CARLTON CURLIEU SLAWSTON
A Voluntary Free Community Newspaper for the Kibuorth Area
SHANGTON
CRANOE
FOXTON
0CTOBFR 1985
, Birith of
the e
CHRONICLE The_first Kibworth Chronicles were delivered into the world - we11,Kibworth and Smeeton - in April 1978 after some rather tempestuous birth pangs。 It all began the previous summer when Geoff Crowther saw an exhibition of Local voluntarynewspapers in Kibworth 1ibrary and contacted the officer for community newspapers. To find other 1ike-minded vi11agers,Geoff advertised in local shops and organised a public meeting.、。 Reactions at the meeting ranged from the interested to the downright hostile but a smal1 hardcore of enthusiasts emerged to form the nucleus of the Chronicle team. About a dozen people worked on the first issue selling and making adverts , reporting,typing,taking photographs , 1aying up and distributing. It was chaotic,hard work but very enjoyable. We were all earning and muddling through together and there was a great team spirit。 In the weeks_preceding the 1aunch,, decisions and policies were hammered out which determined the character of future issues.。 For example,regular features 1ike the Diary,Parish Council Notes,Jilly Snooper and the Sports page were decided,as were more mundane points such as column widths and a policy of no adverts on the front page。 Reg Cartwright designed the distinctive feature headings and the Kibworth Chronicle logo which is now so instant1ly recognisable。 Pooling ideas : 0ne idea which didn「t get off the ground was a page 3 pretty gir1 photograph,a scheme dear to the heart of our photographer! _Feelings ran high with terms 1ike “sexist“and「gutter press「“bandied about on one side and “and harmless fun「 on the other.。 Undeterred,Geoff found a bikini-clad model but her boyfriend was 1ess than enthusiastic about the project.。 A threatened punch-up and a car chase down the A6 - the stuff of front page news - ensured that page 3 bit the dust。 Cathering news for an as yet nonexistent paper was a headache and half way through the first 1ay up it dawned on us that we had a blank page - not a problem that the Chronicle suffers from these days! A spel1 of desperate pencil chewing filled up the gaps and the following week 1,750 first editions were pushed through letter boxes with the 1ead story ,SMEETON POLL DRAMA. 0ur advertisers,then as alwayS,were generous,gently prodded by our advertising manager,Tony Hallows. Investing inus must have required a considerable leap of faith. In those early months
Kibworth should have an abundance of Teachers in the future since this is what Sasha Folley,Louise Hill1 and Joanne Callis would 1ike to be when they grow up. Policeman seems to be a favourite with the boys with John Snel1ling a Lee Dodwell1 and Nicholas RilLey hoping L make the height
Richard Crouch fancies himself as a Spaceman and Martin Rowe hopes to be very clever and go to university.。 Vicki Bird would 1ike to be a Barmaid - Publicans in Kibworth please make a note of the name!
we 1ived from hand to mouth with no financial fat to cushion us from the lean times. It was simple. If we didn「t get the advertising we couldn「t go to press。 Even in its infancy the Chron got about a bit。 There were reports of it turning up in New Zealand,Australia, Ffrance and South Africa. Nearer to home,copies were regularly sent for
storage to the British Library in London。 From its shaky beginnings the Chronicle has grown up and grown,「outwards and is now enjoying a middle ,ged spread over a sizeable corner of Leicestershire. It has given the 1ie to the Jeremiahs who said ,It 「11 never 1ast「 。 It has.。 Happy 75th Birthday 、 CAROL BAKER