27 years is a long time in the life of a newspaper
Written by Editor Tuesday, 12 July 2011 12:01
Well, we have served our turn and we feel it’s now time to move over to the back seat and leave the wheel in the hands of others for an infusion of fresh blood and new energy. Inevitably there will be changes, changes not the sake of changing but changes for the better, while keeping the high standard that we have always done our best to maintain.
Yes, 27 years (over quarter of a century) at the service of the Mauritian community in the UK, that’s a long time. Yet, we do not think that the job is done. To do a business one must have visions and flair to achieve. Of these we had plenty that we shared with others to empower them in the community to move to the front.
We can take credit for a few things we have done through Mauritius News as a community paper. We can take as an example the many young people the paper has helped to acquire experience in the various aspects of producing a publication and in the various aspects of office practice. The work experience gained at Mauritius News has proved to be an asset to them to obtain lucrative employment. Some of them we can’t even recall until we are told by their ‘proches’ of their present whereabouts. Our attention has been drawn to a girl who did a spell with us and who is now working for The Times. One went to the BBC, another one went to Daily Telegraph, to the Penguin Group, the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, etc.
We take credit for the creation of a Père Laval Association in London and for inviting the head of the Mauritius Catholic Church, H.E. Cardinal Jean Margéot, to come to London to celebrate mass for the expatriates at the St George’s Cathedral in Southwark in 1990 and the Millennium Mass at Westminster Cathedral (not Abbey) in 2000. Mauritius News was instrumental in creating the Federation of the Mauritian Associations in the UK and the first open-air festivals in Walthamstow in the 1980s that attracted thousands of spectators, when others were unknown quantity or still yawning on the school benches.
Among other achievements, we can take credit for putting the Mauritius annual football competition on a solid footing since the 1990s, at a time when there was not a single penny in the kitty to start off the games. Mauritius News was instrumental in helping to raise all the funds required to hire the pitches, pay the referees, buy the trophies and the medals for the players, etc.
The dance we organised at the Banqueting Centre on the Lord’s Cricket Ground, St John’s Wood, will last in the memory of those who attended, the Day Out on Clapham Common that attracted so many people in spite of the rain, and of late the lavish Miss Mauritius GB competition are all landmarks of our performances in the community.
We have met quite a few genuine friends, and quite a few characters along the way who will drop you when they feel attracted by better rewards. As far as the paper is concerned, worst are those who request the insertion of advertisements yet refuse to settle the invoices to the point that we have to take them to the Small Claims Court. There are those who, though they claim payment upfront for their own business sit on and accumulate our invoices for months and then fallaciously argue that part-payment has been effected. These are the sorts of characters who make you feel good to distance yourself from them.
On the other hand, must I say that we have had also very reliable people within our community with whom it’s a pleasure to consort. To them I say a big Thank You for the pleasure we have enjoyed from our association with them and, in some cases, with their organisations throughout the years. We still have subscribers who have been with us from the first days in 1983. Quite a long time indeed!
Though I am moving over to the back seat it does not necessarily mean that I shall leave the vehicle. Our Board of directors will always oversee operations. I myself will continue to chair this Board to ensure good management. We shall not abandon the community spirit that has always prompted us.
We have had very great help from many friends who are themselves now out of the limelight. 27 years ago, they were around but now they have changed with the years. However, there are presently others who have grown up enough to run the show until they too will pass on the baton.
July 2011 Peter Chellen
