Post-war
When the first issue of the Leigh Parish Magazine appeared in August 1957, it marked the beginning of a publishing tradition that would run for more than three decades. That debut edition was a modest affair of just four pages, and every word of it had been penned by one man: the Rev. John Bounds, who had arrived in the village that same year to take up the post of Vicar of Leigh.
Readers opening those early pages would have been greeted in a warm and personal way, for Rev. Bounds made a habit of beginning his addresses with the salutation "My dear Friends". The tone was clearly that of a parish priest writing to neighbours he knew well, rather than an official circular from the church.
The new Vicar did not come to Leigh alone. He and his wife had first met during his time as a curate in Weymouth, and she brought an interesting family connection of her own, being one of the twin daughters of the Rev. W. S. Syson. Grandpa, as he was known in the household, lived at the Vicarage with the family. He had spent his working life serving with the C.M.S. in Africa, and by the time the magazine first appeared he had passed three score years and ten.
Four children completed the Bounds household, and their ages in that first year give a lively picture of a young family settling into village life. Christopher was eight, Angela was six, Philip was five, and little Nicholas was just three.
Money was clearly a consideration from the outset. Producing the magazine cost more than four pence per copy, but readers were offered it at that price on the understanding that 250 copies would be distributed each month. It was a practical arrangement that depended on the village getting behind the venture.
The choice of month for the first issue was fitting in more ways than one. The 1st of August is known as Lammas Day, an old observance in which the first sheaf of corn and the first loaf were presented, a harvest tradition that suited a publication born at the height of summer. Rev. Bounds closed that opening edition with a thought that has a pleasing optimism about it: "For those who look sunwards the shadows fall behind".
The village's local history society is fortunate to hold magazines covering the years from 1957 to 1964, and throughout that period the publication kept to its original four page format. The picture becomes patchier after that. Only a few magazines survive from between 1974 and 1979, but these show how the magazine had evolved. A 'Home Words' section had appeared, its content being purely religious, and advertisements had also begun to creep into the pages.
In the later magazines the content broadened further still, with notes about the school, the Produce Association and the Cricket Club finding a place alongside the church news, reflecting the magazine's role as a general record of village activity.
The 'Home Words' section had a long run but eventually came to an end: the October 1990 magazine was the last to include it. That date was significant for the parish in another way too, as it was around 1990 that Rev. Miles stood down as Vicar, with Rev. Overton replacing him in the post.
Thanks to careful collecting, the local history society holds copies of all magazines from 1980 onwards, meaning that the gaps in the record are confined to the 1960s and 1970s. Every surviving issue is stored in the local history archive, where they can be consulted by anyone interested in tracing the changing life of the parish through the pages its vicars and villagers produced.
This article was written by Joyce Field in August 2019.