We at the Four Shires Magazine have something to celebrate today.
WE ARE 20!
Some things just get better with age…
Back in October 1997, the very first issue of the modern Four Shires magazine – then called Banbury Fare was published.
In the leader for that first issue we wrote:
‘Welcome to the first issue of Banbury Fare Magazine, a monthly digest of all things nourishing in the Banburyshire area. Four Shires aims to represent Banburyshire, to be informative and entertaining. The history and traditions of Banburyshire are acclaimed worldwide; Four Shires will reflect these values
and serve the area with pride.’
Well after 20 years I do hope that we have lived up to those expectations.
The first magazine we produced cost just 60p and rolled off the presses in Banbury at a respectable 32 pages (including the cover)! We now regularly run up to 100 pages and have gone up in price to £2.95. Three times the size for just about thr ee times the price (allowing for inflation).
We can only say thank you to all our Staff, Readers and Advertisers who have helped us to such a large extent during these 20 great years.
There have been a great deal of changes… we no longer produce the magazine using film and plates, it is now almost entirely a digital process. We send our files via the ‘interweb’ to printers who use presses that can turnout 15,000 printed sheets in a little under an hour!
Four Shires is now distributed to a wider audience than ever before. With wholesale distribution centres in the west Midlands and Middlesex as well as Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Warwickshire and Gloucestershire the magazine is seen by more and more.
Unlike many other publications, Four Shires has remained a ‘paid for’ magazine – our readers continue to buy and value our journal – and for that we are very grateful.
Here at Four Shires we would like to thank all our readers and advertisers for continuing to support us…without you there would be no magazine.
Cheers… and here’s to another 20 years!
