Grocott’s Mail is your community newspaper. Those of us who are lucky enough to work at this venerable institution aim to provide readers with news and information that is relevant to the residents of the Makana Municipal area. We also try to approach stories with a Makana frame of mind, so in the next few weeks we will be devoting a considerable amount of space to the upcoming National Arts Festival, but we will make every effort to highlight the works of local artists and performers.
Of course, we will look at many other Fest-related stories – we could never ignore the high-profile acts that will be dazzling audiences during the 10 days of Amazing – but we will always be looking for the local talent. If we miss someone – and it might just happen, in spite of our best efforts, please let us know. Send in an email, or just drop a note off at our front desk and let us know who you think deserves a little bit of extra attention.
In fact, this goes for any story or photo opportunity that you think we ought to be covering – it doesn’t only apply to Festival news.
Sometimes, people phone in while they are at a group gathering – it could be a business function, or a school celebration – and someone says that “this should go in the newspaper”. They call in and say that they are having a special event, please can we send a photographer over now. Whenever this happens, we do our level best to send a photographer, or if we don’t have one available, we might send a student who can also take pictures. However, even a big city newspaper doesn’t always have a ready supply of photographers on hand to immediately send out on any eventuality. Sometimes, people understand and take their own photographs which they send on to us, but on other occasions, callers become offended and think that for some reason or the other, we don’t think their event is important enough.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Events that take place in the Makana area are definitely of interest to Grocott’s Mail, but we don’t always have the resources to cover everything we would like to.
So take ownership of the situation – take your own photos, and send them in, with enough information for a caption. Tell us who is in the picture, where it was taken, what was the occasion and who took it. Try to make sure that the resolution of the photograph is as high as your camera can possibly make it and always help us ensure that all the names of the people in the photograph are spelt correctly.
Remember, this is your newspaper too.
