Could you write for Rolling Along?
We welcome new posts about any aspect of community life in Widecombe in the Moor
As Rolling Along turns one year old, we are pleased to have reached 260 regular subscribers. Thank you for your support.
It’s a quiet time in the cycle of events in the village, so now is a good opportunity to remind everyone of what Rolling Along can do for you - and what you can do for Rolling Along.
We started last year with the plan of publishing around a dozen posts. If we could get one annual contribution from each of the key social groups in the village, we thought we had a viable project. Over the course of the year, we have published 40 posts!
We have covered everything from Brenda Boston’s post on the Widecombe Wassail to Vicar Ross Hathway’s thoughts on Friedrich Nietzsche. Fortunately, Widecombe Parish Council brought us back to reality - with Daf Edward’s piece on what it takes to keep the centre of the village looking good.
Our great strength is that we can tell a longer story with many more images than is possible in the Parish Link. Debbie Richardson, who edits the Parish Link, has been a great help in setting up Rolling Along and has many ideas about how we can continue to work together.
What can we do for you?
We tell people about forthcoming events
Are you planning to announce an event in the Parish Link this year? This is an excellent opportunity to also publish a post in Rolling Along with more extended coverage and pictures. Debbie Richardson can help you include a QR code in your Link piece or advert that directly connects to your Rolling Along post on the web.
We can also publish an online programme of events in PDF format for people to download, which is ideal for longer documents. Look out for the 2025-26 Programme from Widecombe History Group, coming soon, including more guided walks by Terry French.
We can help remind people that you are fundraising
If you are part of a fundraising group—and there are several in the village—we can help. Even though many people may know that you exist and that you are fundraising, you still need to keep regularly reminding them of what you still need.
Reach a wider audience than the people who occasionally look at your website.
Grab people’s attention with pictures of what you are currently doing.
Appeal for practical help if that’s going to help just as much as money.
Legacies and large gifts have been instrumental in establishing or furthering many of the facilities and social group ventures in Widecombe. Making a gift to charity in a Will can reduce the Inheritance Tax rate that is paid (H.M. gov.uk guidance).
People are always writing or revising their Wills. It won’t do any harm if they have you in mind.
We keep a record of what has been happening
Rolling Along is both an email newsletter service and a web page. We can actively and directly inform most people in the village about what's happening, and we keep a record of events that people can access anytime. We hope that over time, we will become a valuable historical record for the village.
We don’t assume that people already know or are not interested
One of last year’s most viewed posts was Geoff Bamsey’s post on Leusdon Church. Very few people would have otherwise read the ‘Annual Church Warden’s Report to the Parish Council’ - but it turned out to be very popular. And a friendly reminder to visit or revisit this special place, so lovingly cared for by Geoff.
What can you do for Rolling Along?
Take more pictures
People like to see images of village events, and they want pictures of people at events even more. Images taken this year will help advertise next year’s events.
We had a great selection of images from Widecombe Fair from various contributors. We hope to do even better this year.
We especially welcome contributions from young people
This year, we’d like to see more posts or articles by or about young people. If you are an aspiring journalist or photojournalist, we’d love to hear from you. Or, perhaps you’ve done a school project or similar that people would be interested in.
Tell us about something further afield
We are very much focused on ‘the community life of Widecombe parish’. But villagers do sometimes stray beyond the parish boundaries! And we do not restrict ourselves to only people ‘living in Widecombe’. If it’s of interest to the broader ‘community of Widecombe’, then we are interested in hearing from you.
These people can help get your post published
We are just a loose affiliation of volunteers who support Rolling Along alongside other groups in the village. This year, the people to get in touch with and help you put together a post are:
Kris Blood is the communications coordinator for Widecombe History Group, among other roles. If you want to reserve a slot for a post later in the year, Kris is a good first contact.
Fiona Senior, among other roles, helps put together the Parish Link and is very knowledgeable about broader community issues across Dartmoor.
Philly Gimlette is a relatively new Churchwarden at St Pancras Church. Among her other roles, she has been closely involved in helping organise musical events in the village.
Please contact us via these emails1:
krissy_blood [@] hotmail.co.uk
fionasenior [@] btinternet.com
philippa.gimlette [@] me.com
Rolling Along is Free to subscribe to - and it always will be!
These are not live email links - extra spaces and brackets have been inserted to avoid spam!