Welcome to the
Cleobury Clarion Website

Goodness me, itʼs already a year since we dragged the level of Clarion technology away from the weakening grip of the quill pen and began to make it available to people who actually live in and understand the 21st century. We will never give up the printed word version as long as I sit in the Editorʼs chair, because people do still like to handle the paper and have a friendly source of local information that they can pick up and flick through.

But early this year we had an enquiry from a Norwegian TV station about a chap who used to live locally in the 1940s, and they had found us through the web. It seems technology spans the ages with ease and it would be a very foolish man who ignored that lesson.

Add a growing number of people who have told me how grateful they are for the electronic version, simply because work doesnʼt allow them to pick up the paper early on the 1st of the month, and Iʼm convinced. Onward to the future.

We have toyed with the idea of changing the outside covers to white paper and using colour pictures there. LIfe in a newsletter office is rather like that, youʼre always looking at it and asking yourself how it can be made better. But colour would lift printing costs and having spent seven years building the Clarionʼs cream-and-black image, such a change would possibly confuse established readers who look for that distinctive colour scheme. So it wonʼt happen, even though a potentially major advertiser recently asked if they could have colour for their space. I really donʼt like giving negative answers, but in this case it had to be a no.

So evolution is our future development route. Revolution has always been a risky alternative, and while there are thrusting young companies in the area who are pushing the envelope to advance, itʼs not part of the Clarionʼs philosophy of simple service and local news. Old fashioned? If you say so, but we do know that it works.

Weʼll be taking a closer look at some of the small businesses in the area and featuring some of them as Small Ads Stars, simply because there is such a broad range of skills and knowledge hidden behind the modest claims that Smalls Ads can only make. And as we get a good response to stories about local people, you can expect more of those.

Whatever your taste or preference, we hope you find something of interest in these 60 pages. Any reader is welcome to contact me and suggest that a local story is worth following up. The Clarion is written for local people and businesses, and I will always listen to new ideas. No guarantee that they will get into print, but I will listen.

Thank you for reading the Clarion. Jim Reynolds