Early Bulletin days recalled

Ruapehu Bulletin, 20 August 1991, Page 15

Early Bulletin days recalled

BY

FOUNDING

ED1TOR

OF THE BULLETIN, DENNIS BEYTAGH Congratulations to the Ruapeka Bulletin on its 400th issue... It's great to see a local paper continuing to serve the Waimarino community and its readers so well and consistently after eight long years despite several staff changes and in a difficult economic climate. But thanks to the support of the business community whose advertising revenue enables the Bulletin to be delivered free to every home in the Waimarino, the future of this local newspaper is assured. It was not always so. Early readers will remember the short-lived fate of both the Waimarino Weekly and the Plateau. The present editor, Robert Milne, has asked me, as 'founder editor' of the Waimarino Bulletin (as it was known then) to contribute a short article just to remind today's readers about how the paper came into being in 1983. This 400th issue would seem to be an appropriate time. Poorly served Those of us who lived in the Waimarino in the late 1970's and early 1980's will recall that we were very poorly served with local news at that time. I know that to be the case because I was then reporting for the Turangi Chronicle (which was being distributed in this area) as its Ohakune based correspondent. There was always more news being generated in this area than the weekly Turangi Chronicle could accommodate but I was never able to persuade the owners and editor of of that newspaper to

increase our coverage or open an office on this: side of Mt Ruapehu. For most of us in the Waimarino in 1983 the Turangi Chronicle was largely irrelevant because the main content and emphasis was on news and advertising generated in the Turangi, Tokaanu, Taupo and Tongariro area. The only other publication in a 'proper' newspaper format to be distributed in the Waimarino at that time was the Central District Times published in Taihape but this too gave minimal coverage of news north of Waiouru. There was, however, a small news broadsheet known as the Waimarino Weekly being published, somewhat erratically, in Raetihi in a genuine attempt to provide this community with some local news. Business approach But the Waimarino Weekly seldom ran to more than 6 or 8 pages and obviously did not fulfil the needs and expectations of either its readers or advertisers. This too became obvious when in 1982 I was approached by a group of local business people to see if, between us, we could launch a regular and reliable weekly newspaper. But without the considerable financial backing necessary and the lack of publishing expertise, equipment and premises, the idea was abandoned. Then, in early 1983, along came John Sandford. As a successful publisher in Auckland of Jason's accommodation directories, John Sandford had maintained his contact with Waimarino where he had been bom and raiscd.

Through his many friends and business acquaintances in the Waimarino he very soon became aware of the need for a local newspaper in what was once again, thanks to the Turoa Skifield and the Winstones Pulp Mill, becoming a thriving community with heaps of potential. "Local" In March 1983 John came to my home in Ohakune to discuss setting up this new publication (as yet unnamed) and I accepted his invitation to become its editor. For the next 2-3 months we proceeded to get our act together. It was to be truly a 'local* newspaper in every sense of the word. We agreed on the editorial policy: that only news generated in the Waimarino or directly relevant to the Waimarino community would be published. The newspaper was to utilise local labour and facilities as far as possible. It was to be printed by Trevor Ede in Raetihi on a flat-bed offset litho press and photographs were to be processed by Errol Vincent in Ohakune. Thanks to the Ohakune Borough Council we were able to acquire the building that is now the AA Travel and Ruapehu Visitors Centre in Clyde Street (but was then somewhat run down and tatty) for our offices. We wanted our first edition to coincide with the opening of the 1983 ski season but because the office renovations were not quite complete and the very large and heavy typesetting machine couldn't be installed until the following week, the first edition of the Bulletin had to be typeset and assembled in the Jason offices Turnpage 17

Early Bulletin

From page 15 in Newmarket Auckland. That meant that the whole team - John Sandford, myself, assembly artist Johan Newby (now Johan Sandford) and typesetter Cathy Shaw - spent a very long weekend in Auckland putting together that very first edition of the Bulletin so that the artwork could be rushed back to Trevor Ede in Raetihi to print and distribute the following day. For the second edition the 'B' team moved back to Ohakune and, as they say, the rest is history.