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Village Life was started in October 2003 by a group of Stanford business people as a newspaper for the village (pop. 5500). Interest in the publication soon proved to be much wider, and from the third issue it started to grow into a regional paper, published by husband-and-wife team Maré and Annalize Mouton. The masthead strapline was changed from "Stanford in the Cape Overberg" to read "Cape Overberg Whale Coast", then became "Journal of the Cape Overberg", and now reads "Journal of people, nature history, arts", reflecting the much wider spread of the magazine.
Initially Village Life was an A3 size (tabloid) newspaper printed on matt art paper in full colour, with reproduction and print quality normally seen in brochures. From the February/March 2005 issue it was changed to A4 magazine format, 32 pages on gloss art, and from the June/July 2005 issue it was 48 or more pages plus cover.
Up to Issue No 33 (December 2008) it was published every second month, but from 2009 it became a quarterly, published in March, June, September and December. The magazine is distributed nationally through subscriptions, selected retail outlets and accommodation establishments.
It aims to be a broad-based window on interesting "ordinary" people, the natural environment, history and social life. The magazine is independent of any political or commercial affiliations or agendas, and does not publish "advertorials" or editorial material in exchange for advertising. It also does not compete with other magzines in reporting the everyday disasters of life, or the affairs of "celebrities". The aim is to present interesting, informative and entertaining articles about people in their natural, historical and cultural environment, and to promote the conservation of those environments. The editors are serious about the content of the publication, but try not to take themselves too seriously; a bit of humour is in order.
Maré "retired" to Stanford in December 2001 to devote his time to painting, writing and photography, after having run his own graphic design and advertising studio in Cape Town for twelve years, serving corporate clients such as Metropolitan Life, KWV, Naspers, Pepkor, Trencor, US Business School and Taylor Window Blinds. Before that he worked in journalism, graphic design, photography and public relations in South Africa and Namibia. He was involved in the design of a number of newspapers and magazines, including doing the original handlettering for the masthead of the Johannesburg daily Beeld in 1974 (still used today).
Annalize, who has been living in the Stanford area since 1996, is a trained pianist and singer, and has worked as a music teacher, farm manager, gourmet chef and lay preacher, and is an experienced genealogical researcher. She is, apart from general articles, responsible for the historical research, and has taken full advantage of her digital camera, contributing stunning photographs. Her project to take photographs of "some" people in Stanford, started in June 2007, resulted in a well-received exhibition in October 2007 and the publication of the large-format book Stanford 150 : Portrait of a Village in February 2008 (view pictures). A selection of the photographs will be exhibited at various venues in Holland, starting in September 2008, as "A portrait of a South African Village".
Maré and Annalize did virtually everything regarding Village Life themselves for three years, from research, writing, photography and canvassing advertising, to driving 4000 km per month to do articles and distribution. They have since been joined by Ronel Vosloo, who looks after the 2000 subscribers.
We are fortunate in having as contributors knowledgeable historians, experts from the scientific community and freelance journalists. A special feature is the regular contributions by Nico Myburgh, the doyen of South African bird photographers, whose pictures and knowledge continue to amaze.
Our mission is to maintain high standards of editorial content and production values, to give readers and advertisers value for their money while informing and entertaining. Village Life is produced on high-end Apple Macintosh equipment, and is printed in Cape Town on 4-colour litho offset presses using computer-to-plate technology.
Although we have a clear vision for Village Life, it is always a work in progress. Contact us - we would love to hear your comments and suggestions!
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