NEWSDESK Editor’s welcome
Barry Elms Editor
Welcome to the Winter 2021/2022 Issue of Harmonica World. Big change continues to happen within HarmonicaUK, in an effort to be more sustainable as an organisation and to move forward, reaching out and promoting the harmonica to a new generation of musicians. You will already have received your first HarmonicaUK Newsletter. These will be arriving in your inbox monthly, keeping you up to date with the latest HarmonicaUK news and events, and news from the wider harmonica community. This is complemented by regular Newsdesk items on our shiny new website, www.harmonica.uk – more on the other benefits of the new website later. With the increase in communications from us via the new newsletter, and to take the pressure off the dedicated volunteers on our editorial team, we are trialling producing the print magazine quarterly, rather than bi-monthly – so rather than just six print magazines, you will be receiving 12 newsletters, four print magazines, and access to the newsdesk page (www.harmonica. uk/pages/Newsdesk) which is updated weekly. We believe this will enable us to reach you with current news more quickly (from six up to 16 major communications from us each year), will be more sustainable for us as an organisation in the long term, and better for the environment, so a win all around. We will, of course, still be making the print magazine available in accessible and digital ISSUU versions (https://issuu.com/HarmonicaUK). Finally, after 14 months and seven fantastic issues as editor of Harmonica World magazine, I am moving on from the hot-seat of magazine editor. At the October AGM I was voted in as Head of Communications and Vice-Chair of HarmonicaUK, so, moving forward, I will have responsibility for all communications from HarmonicaUK, including the magazine, website, social media and newsletters. I’d like to welcome Dave ‘Dogfish’ Colclough as the new magazine editor, starting with the Spring 2022 issue, due on your doorsteps in March. We’ve been working on the editorial team together for much of the last year, and I know Dave will do a great job in continuing to put together a fantastic magazine for all of our members; he already has plans for feature articles and more for the next couple of issues. Good luck Dave! I’d like to thank the whole of the editorial team and contributors for supporting me in creating together a world-class harmonica magazine each and every issue, and I look forward to seeing more of the latest harmonica news making its way to all of you via magazine, newsletter, website and social media in 2022, and into the future.
Winter 2021/2022 • Harmonica.uk
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