DON'T STOP WRITING IN

The Digest Magazine may have ceased publication but that doesn't mean you have to stop writing in and contributing to the Pontefract website.  You still have a focal point for the town in the form of a website which offers a place of reference for local information but while I will try to publish as much material as I can there is only so much I can do on my own. It's astonishing that a town of such size can muster only a handful of people willing to contribute and the majority of our more regular contributors that do support the website come from more distant places - where on earth are all the Pontefract residents?

For over two years you had the best local community magazine for miles around and here, you have the most informative website available for the town, neither of which were created by any local organisation or group, or even by any local governing bodies. Despite the dispersal of local funding for who knows what causes, the town does not have an 'official' website and yet with the reserves of information available to local bodies that would be ideal for publication, it would seem to be an area that should have been addressed some time ago. But it was left to two individuals to publish a town magazine and the same two people to construct a town website and it's simply amazing that throughout all that time no-one in higher authority has ever contacted us to offer any assistance. Perhaps they never heard of the Digest Magazine or know anything about the Pontefract website? In Knottingley we published a regular monthly column by Councillor Graham Stokes and that is the kind of assistance and support that the Digest Magazine so badly required - which is something that has been totally lacking in Pontefract.

Perhaps Pontefract authorities are much wiser than we were at the time. Do Pontefract people really care whether they have a magazine or website at all?

Michael Norfolk
22 November 2007

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