Village Voice :: About Us

A brief history in Suffolk

The magazine has its origins in the parish newsletter produced by Revd John Draper in 1976 on a Gestetner at Hoxne vicarage. This was A4 size and covered all four parishes in the Hoxne church group: Denham, Hoxne, Syleham & Wingfield.

When John Draper left the village in 1986, the magazine was taken over by John Chapman and became the Village Voice. The scope was widened to include a greater range of news and remained as A4 with a photocopier used to produce each issue.

John Ball took over editorship in 1995 and the format changed to A5 and was printed. Advertising revenue increased, which along with donations from parish and church councils and individuals, covered the cost of production. A regular bi-monthly magazine was produced from the Dec 1997/Jan 1998 issue and the first crossword appeared.

From 2001, the magazine was run by a team of three: Brian Chester, Jan Murray and Julie Ashley. It remained as A5 with either 28 or 32 pages per issue and the advertising was limited to five pages.

By 2013, the format continued largely unchanged and John Langley started as editor. There were now 48 or 52 pages in each issue with some 11 pages allocated to advertising.

When John moved away in 2017, Richard Whiting became editor and introduced the first full colour issue. Colour production was now a cost effective alternative to the previous black and white magazines due to advances in the printing industry.

As of 2022, Lesley Balian is the current editor and the magazine continues to be largely funded by revenue from 50+ advertisers with some 900 copies distributed across the parishes.