Background
Originally there was a benefice magazine for each of the two benefices of Shill Valley and Broadshire (Black Bourton’s benefice). When the benefices amalgamated into a single benefice in 1995 the two magazines were also eventually amalgamated into one – the Parish Pump. Since April 2020 the magazine, although still based on the 12 churches and 15 villages, is now defined by geography not benefice as ‘The Land of the Twelve Churches’ in the West Oxfordshire Cotswolds, which means, although Black Bourton left the benefice in June 2020, it is still numbered as one of the twelve in the magazine.
Publication
From 2021 the Parish Pump is being published every two months (February, April, June, August, October, and December) in print and in digital format on the Parish Pump website. As part of our news coverage we are making available the digital copy – here is the February/March issue. You will see that Black Bourton’s contribution is currently whatever the editor Richard Martin chooses to pick from this website!