R & T News

 Click to see photographs of village events Rogate Gallery

Rogate & Terwick Newsheet, Rogate & Terwick News and the  R & T News

The Rogate & Terwick Newsheet was started and edited by the vicar, Revd Percival Hayman (Vicar of Rogate & Terwick from 1963 to 1981) at about the time the two parishes were combined.

Copy was submitted in longhand and then typed by Mrs Ruth Weatherall (of ‘Rest Harrow’, Fyning Lane) in a spare room at the vicarage.

A Gestetner duplicator was obtained, with printing done on quarto sized matt surface paper. Folding and stapling was done by John and Rosemary Stringer and Pat and Phoebe Verschoyle.

About 2-300 copies were made and taken to houses round the parish by a group of distributors and a small charge was made (Perhaps 3 pence in old money).

In 1981 the vicar retired and he asked Dick Garne to take over until a new vicar was appointed, but the Rev Fred Leese thought it better if Dick remained as editor. About this time, the old vicarage was sold and the new one, in the garden of the old vicarage, did not have a spare room, so the production was moved to Lower Meads (Habin Hill) the home of the Stringers.

By this time, the magazine was run by a committee which was chaired by the vicar with Captain Rex Peter as treasurer. Dick Garne was taken ill in 1988, and Elizabeth Brown took on the duties as editor.

Typing of the Newsheet had passed to Mrs Campbell of Sheet and Pam Willis, but by 1992 the Stringers and Verschoyles wanted younger people to take over the stapling and folding. At about this time the Gestetner failed and despite the new vicar being prepared to take on the role of chairman, a hastily convened meeting at Hambledon Cottage resolved to appoint Dick Garne as chairman (a post he held until xx) and that the magazine should be professionally printed under the title of the Rogate & Terwick News, and not solely a church magazine, but cover all the village clubs and societies, much as it does today.

Elizabeth Brown continued as editor for 26 years (until 2014) and Terry Bell, who had some ‘government’ publishing experience (in his role at the Bank of England), became assistant editor (from 1992 until 2011). Stephen Berendt joined the editorial team in 2010 and produced the magazine ‘in-house’ prior to sending it to the printers. John Connor replaced Elizabeth Brown as joint editor in 2014, Elizabeth continuing in her role as chairman until March 2020. Rosemary White (until 2014) was the distribution co-ordinator with assistance from Harriet Heslop. Marlies Kershaw (having looked after advertising for a period) moved to manage the army of distributors until 2018, when Sophie Newton took over the role. Debs Burles arranges all the advertising.

In January 2017, the magazine changed its name to the R & T News to reflect the addition of Trotton into the distribution area. Although the magazine is not a church magazine as such (there is plenty of church content though), there has been an increasing desire to get the 4 churches in the benefice (St Bartholomew’s in Rogate, St Peter’s in Terwick, St George’s in Trotton and St Mary’s in Chithurst) to work closer together for the benefit of the WHOLE community. Previously Trotton Church distributed ‘The Bridge’ to the inhabitants, but this was becoming increasingly difficult to maintain and it was decided, with the enthusiasm of Trotton Parish Council to make the R & T News available in the parish.

Today, the magazine is self-funding (mainly through advertising) and continues to thrive with over 430 copies being printed each month. The annual subscription (delivered) for the year 2020 has been set at £7.00, having been just £5.00 for many years. Individual copies (£1.00) are available from Rogate Village Stores or from the churches in the parish.

To email us: please Click Here