4.13 Newsletters
Experience showed that not everyone who might have an interest in the project - and certainly not every Community member, who the project regarded as stakeholders - had the familiarity with, access to, or interest in computers and the Internet to make their way regularly to the project website for news and updates. Hardcopy newsletters were therefore built into the project design, with three issues at regular intervals throughout the project and a fourth six months after project's end. The latter would provide continuity of contact and communication, a round up of the project's Activities and results, and an opportunity to elicit feedback from participants, having had a cooling off period and time for reflection.
The project budget assumed a print run of 350 copies, but this was quickly exhausted and another 100 copies were ordered of issue one, published in May/June 2010. 170 copies went to the Caldecott Association for mailing with their newsletter, and a further 40 went to the Wennington Association for mailing with theirs, with the rest of the mailing going to supporters of the project and interested people on the Planned Environment Therapy Trust mailing list.
The first newsletter was relatively simple, being put together using the standard word-processing software the project team was then familiar with. The second reflected the growing confidence with the Mac computer ordered for the project, and its desk top publishing programme. The third consisted of the booklet/brochure provided to conference delegates, with a covering letter, bringing readers up to date, for example with the news that project team members would be carrying on with the Trust beyond the project.