RGJRA In the News

Dear All,

 As most of you will know I now send out four Association publications a year. These are the Ezine on the 15^th June, September and December which is an on line magazine distributed to everyone who has a current registered email address on the database and also Swift and Bold, which goes out in the first week of March as a hard copy annual magazine and is sent only to full paying members of the Association.

I would like to make it known to as many people as possible that in view of this number of publications there is a constant need for articles and particularly photographs of all branch and individual activities throughout any given year. I say particularly photographs because although I cannot guarantee to use every picture you send me, with four publications a year, I will use quite a lot and it is important to include all your activities because the front cover of Swift and Bold from now on is going to contain a collage of Association activities something along the lines of the attached picture HERE. For demo purposes the attached only has photographs of this year’s reunion included whereas the intention is for the finished front cover is to have a good cross section of all of the Associations activities throughout any given year.

I mentioned in the last Ezine I sent out that there was a need for you all to provide more articles to fill the pages which on average number between twelve and fifteen. In that issue only two branches contributed anything at all and the number of articles from individuals was down. Without your support in regard to articles and photographs the Ezine annual publications will be reduced and depending on the input from you could disappear altogether. The same goes for Swift and Bold of course which would be a great pity considering the effort it has taken to get it reinstated. My call for reunion photographs which I made by email to branches two weeks ago got a response from two of you but I am sure there are many more than that within branches and as individuals who took reunion photographs at Winchester this year!

The other things which we need to get sorted out is the quality of pictures and how you get them to me.

Firstly the issue of whether a picture you want to send to me is good enough for use in a hard copy magazine or of a lower quality and suitable only for use on the Internet is always going to be difficult for people to judge unless they are aware of the limitations of each type of picture so I think it would be best if you send them to me for a decision anyway and let me decide. After all, I need both types for Swift and Bold and the Ezine as well as the photo web site!

Secondly, is the question of how to get the articles and photographs to me remembering that there are limits as to how much you can send by email which is the most preferred method. However a number of other options exist.

Dropbox

One of the best ways to transfer files and photographs around the Internet is by use of a free programme like Dropbox which will allow you to transfer files up to 2GB in size without incurring charges and very easily. You can download Dropbox from https://www.dropbox.com/downloading and once it has been set up it is a simple matter to share files with anyone else who also has Dropbox installed like me. I just have to send you an invitation to insert the files in my Dropbox from yours once I am aware of the need.

By Post

There are a number of options open to you here.

 
1.       You can write your photographs and articles to a CD and post it to me.
2.       You could simply send me the camera memory card with the photographs on board.
3.       You could send me a memory stick with your files on.

In all cases your hardware will be returned to you as soon as the files on it has been copied.

My postal address can be obtained either from the last copy of Swift and Bold or if you email your request for it to ken.ambrose1@btinternet.com and  I will send it to you.

One final reminder is for the September Ezine. The material for this needs to be with me by 31 August 2010 so if you have anything of interest please get it to me and please don`t forget the photographs.

Best wishes to all

Ken Ambrose