Volunteer
Do you have skills and enthusiasm to offer magnet?
At the heart of magnet is a group of volunteer editors who work behind the scenes to bring you this wonderful magazine.
Interested in joining our team? You'll work hard, but you'll be richly rewarded. We're not looking for experts - we work collaboratively as a group and each bring different things to the mix. You'll need to give time and enthusiasm (working patterns will vary as to the time of year and the issue you're working on). You'll have an eagerness to learn and the humility essential to being part of a team.
Listening skills are a must! There will be occasional meetings with fellow editors and a residential in November, which is when the team spends time together and all the ideas start flowing. All expenses are paid.
If you're interested in volunteering please contact periodicals@hymnsam.co.uk.
Two of our current volunteers explain more:
Janice Tindale writes:
Could you be an editor of this magazine? I remember reading similar words a few years ago and wondering, could I? Wow, I can!
I had not been reading magnet for more than a year but had become very moved by some articles and loved the illustrations, so I simply wrote an email to express my interest. I showed that I could word process on a computer and had an interview. Previously, I had not been involved with any sort of publishing, well, discounting the cut and stick of a village black and white magazine.
The great thing about this voluntary role is that magnet editors work as a team, so whatever stage of the magazine you are working at there is always someone else to guide you and help out.
If you do have the slightest interest, why not find out more? You will find the role stimulating and rewarding as you see how magazines are prepared and published. Additionally, it is such a joy when you discover an illustration or words that you can share.
Philip Williams writes:
As a child I was fascinated by a hefty magnet my grandfather kept in his chaotic shed. Iron-filings would be drawn towards it or shaped into abstract swirls. It was like magic.
Working on editions of magnet isn't quite so exotic, but there is a kind of 'alchemy' as commissioned articles come together and as words and pictures take shape over successive drafts.
Each issue brings a deeper appreciation for the vast range of gifts and expressions we find across the Christian Church - contributions from Catholics and Copts, from Methodists, Baptists, Anglicans and Quakers. There are stories of people who are making a real difference in their communities, or those who celebrate faith through art or crafts. There are reviews and meditations, pictures, poems and reflections. magnet is a great magazine to be involved with and a wonderful one to look at. The articles are pretty good too!
There is something about working on a common project alongside people with different approaches and insights to your own. We don't always line up as neatly as the filings in my grandad's shed, but it's just as fascinating to see the magazine take shape.
From former members of the team:
"I have rarely experienced such pleasure in the collaborative process as I did when I was part of the magnet editorial team." - Sheila Simpson
"It can be hard work - but it's also very satisfying, especially recognising the impact an issue might have on the lives of readers." - Barbara Garwood
"When I passed the magazine on to someone who had never seen it before and they said 'this is great', I was so proud that I could say 'I helped to put it together'." - Ann Barlow
"I don't think it will ever be possible to look at a magazine in the same way having worked on magnet and understood the importance of an image to the written word and how it is portrayed." - Judith Holliman
If you're interested in volunteering please contact periodicals@hymnsam.co.uk.