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When
The Archer limped into life in January 1993, no-one who saw the first
edition could have foreseen that it would become the regular part of
East Finchley life that it is today.
Issue
1 bore The Archer name, big and bold, the same bowman and motto, as valid
today as it was then: "Local news is our aim."
It
was only A4 in size, two sided and there were no pictures. Its lead story
carried the dull sounding headline "Policing East Finchley" and
the first paragraph ran: "What a dangerous area we live in, no wonder
the insurance companies treat East Finchley as a high risk area."
Scarcely
the most inspirational words to launch a community newspaper but the
founder, Andrew Taylor, had to start somewhere!
By
the end of that year, however, The Archer had blossomed to its present
size of A3, was publishing eight to 12 pages every month, including two to
three pages of news, several features about local people and was full of
pictures. It contained a free speech section, a "what's on",
local history and crime diary.
Headlines
had plenty of punch, sometimes too much punch. Definitely, the headline of
the year was "Beware of rampant mugging gang". As terrifying as
this sounded, it turned out that some youths had snatched a handbag and a
wallet near the station.
Full
of Carp
"Full
of carp" was my favourite subheading and despite the sub-editor's
oath that it was a misprint no-one believed him. Surprising really,
because our spelling mishtakes were winning us high popularity throughout
N2.
That
summer saw the first major Archer campaign to improve the visual state of
the area's main crossroads. "Barnet Council's attempt to improve the
scenic quality of the central area of East Finchley High Road has resulted
in an ugly patch of land dominated by pigeons and their droppings.
"Said
21-year-old Lisa Robson who works at nearby Budgen's: 'The pigeons have
taken over the area and many now call it Pigeon Corner.'"
The
best descriptive passage of the year was by Pat McManus. It was about
her cycling holiday entitled "Caught short in the Hebrides".
"About
half way along the road we were both beginning to feel extremely
inconvenienced...
"At
last it got too much. At the appearance of a slight embankment the bikes
were flung down on the side of the road and we made a scramble for it. 'Oh
hell' I cried 'this will have to do' and down came the knickers with great
relief.
"Imagine
our dismay...when a convoy of vehicles appeared along the road...There we
were crouching in the heather like two strange oversized birds on their
nests..."
My
favourite animal story of the year was by Cathy Young. "It was all
the fault of the North London Hospice shop," she began.
This
was where she purchased a Roto-stak, an elaborate hamster cage, which led
to the purchase of two "male" hamsters, "who devoted their
entire energy to fighting over the very noisy exercise wheel.
"Well,
not quite all their energy...Within six weeks the two males had produced
14 babies which they lovingly introduced to the delights of the wheel...
"Meanwhile,
one of the babies escaped and was joined by two females... and have set up
a colony under the floorboards if our dog's frantic scratching is anything
to go by..."
In
newspapers it is the first paragraph which counts above all and as editor
I used to bang on about this. Indubitably, the best intro of the year was
produced by John Dacam in his article on Chinese flu in N2.
"In
December I had the flu. I caught it on Friday from the same person I
usually catch it from over a few pints after work. I know it was him
because two other people who were with us there went down with it at the
same time."
Despite
my bangings-on about the first paragraph, many of The Archer writers still
persisted in putting all the story in the final paragraph as the following
one shows. I do not know who wrote it but it is a paragraph to end all
paragraphs.
Based
on a report by Barnet Health Agency about the health in its 20 wards, the
story concluded:
"So
there you have it, East Finchley is better off, but still poor and we are
more likely to die than our neighbours, but we cost more to keep alive. So
if you want to be better off and live longer, try moving down the road to
the Garden Suburb." |
