About Us
Our local community magazines and website are the places people go to find out what’s happening in their local area and to find local products, services and trades.
Our aim is to provide our readers with local information so they can get involved in what’s going on in their local area. For our advertisers we provide highly targeted low cost local advertising.
We believe that if everyone could get more involved with the local community and buy products and services from local businesses, we would strengthen the local economy. This would contribute to making our local towns and villages even better places to live, work, play and relax.
As you can see, we are very passionate about our local area. We are the only local publication with all our staff living in the areas in which we publish our magazines. We also use local suppliers to help us run our business and website, and our magazines are printed locally.
Our Story
Quite a few years ago, our editor saw the need for a community publication that would bring together reputable businesses, local people, local events and community groups. After taking a little time to research how she could make this happen we started our first magazine in 2005. This was the Walsall edition of the Pioneer Magazine. We printed just 1,200 copies and it was delivered to the Park Hall area of Walsall. It was an instant success with readers and advertisers!
Owing to demand from readers and also advertisers, who benefited from highly targeted low cost local advertising, we expanded the number of printed copies and the geographical areas we covered.
Two years later we launched the Villages edition of Pioneer Magazine which covers Aldridge, Pelsall, Stonnall, Streetly, Clayhanger, Walsall Wood and Brownhills. We launched the Great Barr Gazette in 2011. These three free publications are hand delivered to a combined total of 48,000 properties.
The parent company for our Pioneer Magazines is Pioneer Publishing Ltd. For many years we have worked in partnership with the Great Barr Gazette which has been a jointly owned publication. The Great Barr Gazette is now in the sole ownership of Pioneer Publishing Ltd.
“Without doubt, the best local publication by far. Well-written informative articles, alongside invaluable local information and reliable advertisers. We don’t really look anywhere else.”
C. Moreton – Streetly
How We Help Our Local Community
We live and work in our local community so whenever we can, we support local community groups, local initiatives, local charities, schools and churches and much more.
Supporting World Café Event In Streetly
The local police organised a World Café event in Streetly for the East Locality. East Locality comprises of Aldridge, Brownhills, Clayhanger, High Heath, Pelsall, Pheasey, Rushall, Shelfield, Streetly and Walsall Wood.
The event was chaired by Cllr Garry Perry, and anyone who “lived, worked or played” in these areas was invited to come along to take part in the Community Conversation. One of the many topics discussed was the lack of youth activities which sometimes lead to anti-social behaviour. With this in mind we were delighted to help Rushall Olympic Football Club, so no matter what background the children come from, they are able to participate in a meaningful and enjoyable activity.
As the go-to community magazine we have a unique awareness and understanding of the local area. So, after the event we were able to provide more information and insights into living and working in the local area to Cllr Perry.
Supporting Rushall Olympic Football Club
Swift Bathrooms Ltd is a longstanding advertiser in the Pioneer Magazine. The business is owned by Steve and Emma Taylor, whose eldest son is an enthusiastic member of Rushall Olympic Football Club, in the under 9s team. The club was struggling to find sponsorship. Steve approached us and we were more than happy to help. Pioneer Magazine sponsors their main kit, and Swift Bathrooms sponsor their tracksuits.
Promoting Our Local Community
We are not being boastful; we really do care and we do a lot of work with, for and on behalf of our local community. For example:
Churches can promote their Christmas and Easter services with us free of charge and use the community pages and noticeboard in our magazines.
We are big supporters of our local libraries. We have written articles most recently supporting the Read for Life team. Libraries use us to promote events and groups, and we leave copies of our magazines in libraries.
We’ve got a good working relationship with local charities and endeavour to highlight their work. We’ve written articles to support Collingwood Autism Support Group, The James Brindley Foundation, Brain Tumour Support Group and lots of others.
Local businesses and residents provide regular columns giving our information and news a truly local flavour. In every issue we include in-depth articles (written by us) to support local events, groups, clubs and businesses. These are usually included in response to direct requests from readers.
To keep up to date with the latest news on how the Pioneer Magazines and Great Barr Gazette are actively working in our local community take a look at our Local Matters page.
Calling Local Photographers
We work with local photography societies who provide the images for our front covers on a regular basis. We welcome the opportunity to showcase photographs from local photographers and photography groups. We will, of course, ensure we credit the photographers and/or societies if we use any of their images. Please contact editor@pioneermagazines.co.uk