A New Era for tarvin Online

I write this landmark article for Tarvin Online with a mixture of gratitude, relief, and pride.
At our recent annual general meeting, our chairperson, Brian Hardacre, formally resigned.
Brian has been at the heart of Tarvin Online for 13 years. He was there with Arnie Sheppard and Phil Miles at the beginning, planning what it needed to include and how it was going to be run.

When the Parish Plan questionnaire was sent out in 2011, one of the main concerns expressed in that report was the lack of a source of good information about what was happening in the village. At that time, letting residents know what was going on in the village was not very easy. You could put up a poster on the Parish Council or Community Centre noticeboards; you could request a notice in the Tarvin Times Parish Council booklet or the church Grapevine magazine. These were the only methods of advertising events. If you had funds, you could put a paid advert in the Tarporley Talk or print and deliver leaflets to every home in the village. Use of social media was less common, so the vision of a village website, up to date with current events and with a fresh story every day, was formed. Tarvin Online was born, taking as its template the lively village website of Audlem. Local Audlem company ThenMedia has provided the technical support and web hosting for Tarvin Online since it began.

Tarvin Online has built up a legacy of articles and images about our village. It has become a perfect place to advertise local businesses and promote clubs and societies, as well as to find out local information and promote events in and around the village. I joined the Tarvin Web team to help create the Virtual Christmas Market, which we planned from the summer of 2020; I also joined the team as an editor at this time.

The last year has been tough for Tarvin online. By February this year, we had just one person volunteering and running the website, editing articles and trying to keep the calendar and directories up to date. This was unsustainable. What was left of the committee had a hard decision to make – if we could not find a new team of volunteers to join Tarvin Online, we kmew we would have to close the website.

There were a few moments in April when I feared I would not be able to say this, but I am pleased to report that at least three volunteers have stepped up to save the website from closure, allowing us to continue to inform and, hopefully, from time to time, entertain our fellow Tarvin residents.

With Brian's departure, we have now said farewell to the last of our original team of editors. I would like to take the opportunity, on behalf of everyone involved, to offer a heartfelt vote of thanks to those people who took the trouble and time to plan the website, write our constitution and editing guidelines, plan meetings, and apply for lottery funding (no mean feat by any means).

Special thanks go to:

Brian Hardacre and Arnie Sheppard, without whom Tarvin Online would never have started and certainly would not have continued as long as it has.

Phil Miles, also one of our founding editors.

Eric Plenderleath, Joan Miller and Ted Lush were all fundamental on the steering committee and in getting the project off the ground. Ted continued to support the website over the years, particularly via the Parish Council, and Joan has been our secretary since 2012.

Jane Lush, our quizmaster, 300 weeks of Tarvin Imp Brainteaser questions and counting!

Tim Bates and Yuri Platika, both of whom came along at just the right time and helped to improve the website and social media channels and to keep things going in 2023 and 2024. Their help and technical expertise have been invaluable.

Mike Hassall, for his guidance and help with Parish council matters and funding.

Our contributors- too numerous to name all, but thanks to everyone who sends us articles, copy and images. Gaynor Heath andLisa Dunn were active contributors in the early days. Sue Hardacre has written many articles andKeith Barkerhas provided beautiful photos over the years. I would especially like to thank Charles Bradley, Margaret Dixon,andDoreen de Cani.Theircontributions to Tarvin Online have been immense.

Finally, my sincere thanks goes to our new web team volunteers, Graham Pemberton, Al Crichtonand Duncan Howarth. You have saved Tarvin online from closure.

If there is anyone else in the village whom I failed to mention but has helped Tarvin Online in any way, please consider yourself thanked, most sincerely.

I am sure that our readers will join me in (forgive the rugby/football analogy) applauding those leaving the field for their much-valued contributions and welcoming those coming onto the field to play.

We are still looking for another editor and ideally someone to pick up the baton from our Secretary, Joan. If anyone is interested in getting involved, please email editor@tarvinonline.org

Thanks again all, for your tremendous support!

Fi