The Blackmore Vale’s new Digital Magazine.

Is the Blackmore Vale Magazine still being published? No, it’s not. But all is not lost for those of us who live in the Blackmore Vale – because the demise of the old Blackmore Vale Magazine was a huge loss.

Sadly it wasn’t alone – print publications are dying across the UK as costs spiral and physical readers move online for their news. But local people still need that hyperlocal community resource.
We are a husband and wife team who have lived in the heart of the Blackmore Vale for almost thirty years. We’re raising our children here. It’s home. And we happen to have the right skills…

So instead of saying
“why doesn’t someone…”
we’ve bitten the bullet and said
“WE should do this”.
(it seemed like such a brilliant idea at 2 in the morning…)

So here we are in August 2020 – trying to pick up where the previously marvellous Blackmore Vale Magazine left off five months ago. We want to ensure the Blackmore Vale still has a gem of a local news source to serve our communities, just as we have since a similar husband and wife team (Alan & Ingrid Chalcraft) bought their local Parish magazine in 1978 and created the first incarnation of a magazine for the Blackmore Vale.

This is NOT the same ‘Blackmore Vale Magazine’ though. We’re a brand new venture (* eta: and in 2021 we newly branded as ‘The BV’ magazine to ensure there’s no confusion with the old magazine), so we’re starting by keeping things simple, with plenty of room to grow as the publication finds new legs. The biggest difference being that we’re moving to a purely digital publication – still in the same familiar local format, but available to read on your phone, your tablet or your computer. That way we not only keep running costs down, but can allow an interaction readers now expect – we are all used to reading and researching online, and to simply clicking on something when we wish to learn more.

For example, a local pub might advertise a fabulous curry night – what if you could just tap the ad to call them to book, or visit their website to see their menu and current opening hours?
Yes – we’re excited at the idea too.

We want to provide a voice for local people, packed alongside the ‘bible of local news and resources’ we’ve been missing.
There’ll still be ‘Letters to the Editor’, news and events, plus regular editorial columns by different entertaining expert voices from within the community. There’s a free What’s On calendar for all Dorset community events which everyone is free to use. We offer standard discounts for charities, free death announcements (one of the many benefits of being a family-owned publication; at a deep-rooted personal level it feels wrong to profit from a time of grief), and provide unstinting support for local small businesses.

Yes, we live in a bucolic idyll – but as a region we’re connected, progressive and agile. We may have an above-average representation of farmers and country pubs – but we also have an abundance of tech start ups, small business entrepreneurs, and global enterprises with multi-million turnovers.
Our aim is for our new ‘local magazine’ to continue to reflect them in a new digital format.
Laura & Courtenay

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