By David Tingley, editor
Although it seems unbelievable in some ways, this month we celebrate our 100th issue of Hurst Life. We arrived on the local scene just over eight years ago, pushing our brand of the colourful community magazine through all letterboxes in the village. And I was delighted at the response from residents, almost straight away. However, in looking at all the back copies – as I did recently, what strikes me is how little I knew about this village in the beginning. I didn’t even have an assistant editor when we first started, but was very grateful to Hurst flooring legend James Taylor for putting me in touch with his inlaws! Linda and John Levett helped me connect with lots of people in the first two or three months. I also recall my good friend Elaine Goodwin putting me in touch with our first Village People candidate – Chris Bradford – whose story we told in issue one. In the early days these quick wins were vital to create a magazine every month, from nothing. But soon, we would be relying on our hard-working editors to lead the way.
I have had the pleasure to work with a number of truly community-spirited writers over the years. Starting with Hattie Parish, then Emily Volkert, Lucy Webb, Deb Hollywood, Michele Copeland until Mike Thatcher took the role in November 2018, and (thankfully!) hasn’t moved on since.
There are too many people whom I could thank. Too many interesting stories which we’ve covered over the years to mention them all.
Some may say that community no longer means what it used to. And I remember I was blown away when Mike Thatcher sent us in an article, which we printed in April 2018. Just weeks after the death of their 10-year-old daughter Ella, he wanted to use Hurst Life (before he worked here) to thank the community for its love and support for his family. He challenged us to consider that community spirit was very much present here in Hurstpierpoint.
And that’s the reason why we exist. We want Hurst Life to continue to be a positive force for good in the immediate area. I’m tremendously grateful to all who have made, and continue to make it happen, every single month. Thank you.
Hopefully you like what we do too: if so, we’re always grateful for a review to be left online: www.bit.ly/3qQXToa
To read David’s full nostalgic look back at the magazine, grab your July copy today and turn to page 12.