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Hadleigh, Layham & Shelley Parish Magazine

The "Hadleigh Parish Magazine" was first published in 1876, compiled by the then Dean, Edward Spooner, who was rector of Hadleigh 1875 - 1899. In those times the magazine was composed entirely by the Dean, then typeset and printed by the printing firm in the High Street premises now occupied by Keith Avis. Dean Spooner probably had more time to spare than his more recent counterparts as, to quote from an 1876 magazine, "our beautiful parish church, closed from Sunday to Sunday would be opened during Lent for daily prayer for 15 minutes at 8.30am each morning". It is also recorded that Holy Communion was celebrated only twice each month. Also, of course, Hadleigh was much smaller with a population less than half what it is now.

As far as anyone can tell, the magazine has been produced monthly ever since, up to the end of 2011.

In the 1950s and 60s the magazine was edited by the late Will Jones (W.A.B. Jones, known affectionately as "WAB"), town historian, headmaster of Bridge Street School, founding headmaster of St Mary's Church School (which opened in 1968) and author of "Hadleigh Through the Ages".

The present editor, John Hall, took over the post in 1979, having been persuaded by the then Dean, John Betton, to take on the task for a couple of years or so. Perhaps the supply of deans is more plentiful than that of editors!

In recent years colour printing has been possible, making the magazine more attractive and "alive". However, the costs of consumables has risen and for the past year or so the magazine has operated at a loss, requiring an increasingly heavy subsidy from other church funds. With this in mind, for 2012 it has been decided to change to quarterly rather than monthly production, relying on an enhanced weekly news sheet and this website to provide up to date news and information that "misses" the quarterly magazine. Readers are also encouraged to switch to receiving their magazine in pdf format via email (at half price). This can be viewed on-screen, but readers with a duplex-enabled printer can, if they wish, print their own copy using "booklet" setting exactly as the "paper" version [settings for most printers: pagesize A5, margin 0, paper size A4].

The magazine is delivered within the parishes by a team of volunteers. The online "E-Magazine" has exactly the same content and is sent out by email in the form of a pdf document. This means that anyone with broadband can have it delivered by email each month, for a modest annual subscription - and of course it is available world-wide and not just within the parishes. Many existing readers have opted to receive their magazines in this way. Apart from saving on production time and costs, there is a wider environmental benefit in cutting down the use of resources used in production - paper, toner ("ink"), power and other printing consumables.

To subscribe in this way, please contact the Benefice Office (see Contacts page).