A former reporter for the Bath Chronicle has launched a local parenting magazine.
Samantha Walker, who has also a freelanced for a number of newspapers and magazines, has launched The Bath Parent using her own money.
She said: ‘I really wanted to start my own magazine, I knew there was a gap in the market for a parenting magazine in Bath and I didn’t want to be a reporter forever.”
The bi-monthly magazine is aimed at families who have children from newborn to age 12, and is distributed for free to parents via nurseries, pre-schools, schools and local businesses.
The magazine distributes 11,000 copies every two months, with content that informs parents on local news, education matters and places to visit.
Walker said: ‘We write on subjects that matter to parents, such as how to find the right school for your child and why sports are so good for kids. We also have great competitions in every issue, plus seven pages of what’s on, as well as food and book pages.”
Walker, 44, started employs a freelance designer and also uses freelance journalists. Now on issue four she says she has secured repeat advertising and is content that the title is doing well.
‘It’s completely my own money, which has been a really scary thing,’she said. ‘We’ve pulled in good quality advertisers so it looks like its going to go from strength to strength.”
Walker said she is looking to launch a similar title in other areas at some point in the future. She said: ‘My youngest child is now 15 but The Bath Parent is just the kind of magazine I would have liked when my children were little.”
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