My first Henley Herald has hit the streets!

My first Henley Herald is out; look out for it at the shops, restaurants and schools around Henley on Klip and at Golf Park, the vets, municipality and a couple of other outlets in Meyerton.

The wooden stands marked Henley Herald and engraved with the hoopoe were made by Pieter Deale and the gift of TJ de Klerk.

See, you can’t hide them under the counter anymore!

For many the print edition was old news. They read it online at www.henley-herald.co.za; but there is something special about having the paper actually in your hands!

Putting it all together was a steep learning curve for me, but a lot of fun too.

I’ve worked on newspapers for years, but only on part of the operation, always aware that I was a small but crucial cog in the process; that what I did affected everyone down the line. Missing a deadline was the ultimate sin.

The process starts, of course, with the advertising which sets the number of pages and the space available for editorial. I had great respect for those who sold advertising – I have even more now!

Meanwhile the editor was assigning reporters and photographers to cover the news. Copy and photographs flowed to the production team – that was my slot. Templates and styles were set, but within those bounds I designed the paper and directed the copy subs who worked on the words. When I hit the button, the great presses in the bowels of the building started up.

I used to love going down there to see the huge rolls of paper and the glistening newsprint inching along the conveyor belt overhead. Stopping the press was not something you did lightly, except in the movies!

Those days are long gone; the presses I remember at the Star building in downtown Johannesburg have been sold for scrap. Technology has changed and changed again in the last 30-odd years.

Now there’s me – all in one – selling ads, collecting ads, writing and editing copy, taking and choosing pictures, designing pages from scratch, checking and proof reading. Here, I had the help of husband TJ, probably the most pedantic proofreader of the many OCD proofreaders I’ve known in my time. If there is a mistake, don’t bother to tell me; he already has!

This time I put the file of my 12-page monthly newspaper on a flash drive the size of my thumb. To get to the printers I headed out of the village, turned at the lonely bull, passed the duck pond and negotiated the dirt track. PCN Printers is a small scale, friendly family business and reassuringly efficient. They did a great job. Thank you, PCN!

When they delivered five days later, I did the rounds, dropping off Henley Heralds at all the outlets and everyone seemed to be very happy to see it. Thanks to Sal and Georges Hebert for laying such good groundwork.

Putting the Henley Herald together has been a lot of fun, but it gets lonely and a bit overwhelming. I wrote most of the first edition because I wasn’t sure how much copy I would need. Now that you’ve seen the newspaper, feel free to get in on the act. Contributions and photographs are welcome. Henley on Klip is a surprisingly busy little village and I can’t be everywhere, so please, send me your news and views. Henley Herald is your newspaper too.

The deadline for advertising is the end of the month before publication – February 29. The next edition will be out around March 15.

Jennifer de Klerk

084 554 9972 – WhatsApp and Telegram

editor@henley-herald.co.za