The town’s impressive castle

Over the years I’ve been involved in many community publishing ventures of different shapes and sizes – but not on my doorstep.

Recently that’s started to feel a little odd as I know more about the local politics, goings on and issues in many other parts of the UK than I do in my home town.

So I’ve decided to do something about that. The Richmond Noticeboard is in its very early stages – I’ve done a little bit of local reporting, compiled some what’s on information and have been doing some signposting of other people’s online content where I think it will be interesting to local residents. Last week’s flooding saw it become a useful point of reference for road closures and other travel information.

Over the coming weeks, I intend to document its progress and reflect on the decisions taken along the way to build up some resources which could be useful for other people looking to set up similar sites.

Coming as it does at the time of year when I know many journalism students will be getting ready to cover their own patches, I hope it will also be an opportunity to share experiences from other parts of the country.

I’ve published the first in this step-by-step series today at a dedicated section on my personal blog: Making a hyperlocal part one: Why?