The first edition of WOT about Ratby was published in December 1986, it was the brain child of Alan Sims the then chairman of the Ratby Scout Group. Earlier there had been a, “Ratby Record” which was published for one or two issues. Alan had produced a newsletter the, “Ratby Ferrett” for the Scout Group and with the demise of the Record he felt that the Scouts could produce and deliver to each house a village newsletter. The Scout Group agreed and fully supported the idea, with the delivery of the magazine to be carried out by the scouts themselves.
At the time the two Parish Councillors; Ken Brown and Malcolm Hill; were producing their own news sheet to inform the village of current council affairs. Copies of the sheet were left in local shops for the public to pick up, a good idea in principle but the councillors were concerned that the information was not getting to enough people. The parish council was informed of the Scouts plans and asked if they would be prepared to support the magazine. The initial reaction was mixed but it was agreed to support the project, so the magazine was to have at least one regular article, this support did give the group confidence to go ahead.
Alan Sims was and still is the editor of the magazine. The original copy was produced by Martin Fretter; who coined the name,”WOT about Ratby”. He was aided by Sue Boud who is still on board. Dennis Dickman, John Fiddler and his son Geoffrey did the typing; as Geoff was into computers and could do that sort of thing, with John Flower doing the cutting and pasting. Later Gail Fretter joined the team to undertake some of the typing of the articles. David Gould looked after the administration and financial side of things and still does. Michael Ball took some of the early photos and wrote some of the articles. Many of the sketch graphics were produced by local children and a multitude of the interesting articles were the work of village residents, some of whom became regular contributors to the magazine. Colin and Carole Payne arranged the deliveries through the scouts and a few volunteers.
In the early stages, editorial meetings used to take in The Plough Inn. For many years every second month would see quite a social event, when a large group of helpers gathered together in the Church Rooms; on a scout night; to fold and collate the printed copy. This was a real hands-on ‘production line’, for at the end of the night the magazine ready for delivery. This procedure eventually became partly automated by the issue of rubber finger stools to the operators to make the page pick up easier.
Well before the 25th issue Sue Boud was the only original member of the production team left. In Summer of 2001 the newly formed Ratby Local History Group realised that the past editions of WOT were a potential resource to those studying the history of the village, both for its recording of news items and in its articles on Ratby’s past. Applications for grants were made to county awards schemes to cover the hardback binding of the first 100 editions. These hardbacks were produced and copies can be found in the library, along with a complete index of all the magazine articles. The index was created by David and Betty Hulme, who during 2013 produced the index for issues 101 to 150.
The 100 edition was achieved in June 2003. At this time Alan Sims was still the editor and Sue was still producing the cut & paste boards ready for the printer. Colin and Carol dealt with the deliveries, with a lesser number of scouts involved but a increasing team of volunteers. Dave Gould is still there looking after the finances. In September 2009 Colin died but son David; Group Scout Leader; stepped in to help his mother with all the delivery aspects of the magazine.
At the time of WOTs 25 anniversary (Sept/Oct 2011 issue 150) this web site has been created, The team of Alan, Sue, Carole, Dave and Dave remains the same. Wot a strong team!
Issue 180, Autumn 2016 saw the last edition of Wot. It marked 30 years of publication, the team decided that the magazine had served its purpose for the village of Ratby.
The magazine was produced to support the scout group which has been very successful over the 30 years, will this continue without the scouts magazine dropping on the doorstep of all the homes in Ratby, every two months the village was reminded that the scouts were there and active. Only time will tell!
Finally it should be noted that without the support of its advertisers ‘WOT’ would not have survived for so long as a free village magazine. Some have been there since issue one, Porter’s Discount Carpets, Ratby Chemist, Pabari’s Ratby News, Ratby Post Office and Julie’s Hairdressing. Thanks to them all.