During the early 1980’s the Victorian Education Department became aware of a small number of community newspapers that were beginning to pop up around the state. This was seen as a good thing so a grant of $500.00 was made available to communities, to assist them to set up and run similar community newspapers, through the “School Improvements Program”.
The local school was seen as the obvious location for a community newspaper, it had the skills, space and most often, the technology, needed for the production a simple news sheet.
Over the years The Romsey Rag has changed; as technology has marched on and the skills within the community have grown so has The Romsey Rag progressed.
Whilst we are a newspaper for the community we do not feel that it is fair for the local tradespeople and businesses to carry the total cost of the production of “The Rag”. Therefore we offer very reasonable “Not For Profit” (“NFP”) annual memberships that allow community groups to present their news and other materials to the community.. These small annual charges support The Romsey Rag and assists us to keep advertising costs as low as possible for everyone.
The Romsey Rag also offers “For Profit” (“FP”) annual memberships. These provide local businesses with an increasing % discount on the cost of advertising; the longer the advertising runs the greater the discount. For more information on our charges and how to take up a “NFP” or “FP” membership or just a one off Ad please see the Charges page on this website.
Today we produce 1,200 copies each month. These are available to be picked up from a variety of locations within the town including the Post Office, IGA, the Service Station and the Library. Copies are also available in the local cafes and medical surgeries. Our web site contains many back copies as we could find and scan. These are available from the “Archives” page of this web site.
Now all community members are able to download their copy from this website. As time passes and people become more comfortable downloading their own copy of the Romsey Rag it will help save paper and energy and reduce pollution.
The Romsey Rag is run by a volunteer Committee of Management, many of whom still work full time. It is an Incorporated Body with its own Australian Business Number.
We aim to have all content in to the Editorial Committee by the 15th of each month and then have the final copy off to the printers by the 22nd of the month with the hard copy edition back in town before the first weekend of the new month. An electronic version of the current Romsey Rag will be uploaded to this website on the day the the hard copies are delivered to the pick-up locations around the town.
In the past content was typed or hand written and dropped at the Post Office or the library, today the vast majority of the reports, articles, advertisements etc are Emailed (.doc, .jpg or .pdf) to;
email@theromseyrag.com.au
Anything to do with accounts, payment for advertising, queries about advertising etc should go to;
payablesromseyrag@gmail.com
NB; The Romsey Rag Inc has no relationship with the facebook page The Romsey Rag
The 2022 “Romsey Rag” Committee of Management as formed at the AGM
President – Anthony Lakey
Secretary – Allan Irvine
Treasurer – Di Irvine
Editorial Committee – Allan Irvine, Sue Kirkegard, Shauna Martin, Trish Dunn & Anthony Lakey,
Distribution – Marg Mitchell & John Evans
The next AGM of “The Romsey Rag Inc.” will be held at 7.30pm at the Romsey Mechanics’ Institute in November 2024.