A little tidy-up of the WSG archive (well, cupboard to be more precise) has unearthed a little treasure – the very first edition of the Arundel And District Monthly Journal with its promise of Independent Views.


You can't help but wonder at the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune that the yellowing pages have endured to survive down the decades.


But survive they have, in good condition and full of interest.


Doubtless a collector's item, No 1 Vol 1 hit the streets of Arundel on June 16, 1931, priced 2d (1p) and promising (for the benefit, presumably, of its advertisers) a guaranteed circulation of 1,500 copies.


Elsewhere, it was straight to the point. The main column on the front page was headed Monthly Gossip, with the words Emphasised Views somewhat bizarrely appended.


Is it possible to gossip without emphasis? Who knows.


But the editor clearly was a man of principles, promising in his foreword to deliver "a clean, healthy journal – containing no mean or unworthy notes, free from malice and spite, with no axes to grind, financial or otherwise."


For full feature see West Sussex Gazette February 6