The first issue of the Aston Abbotts parish magazine - The Chronicle - appeared in September
1983. Its first editor was Graham Parker, who felt “the principle reason for the dubious honour is
probably that I was not at the meeting when the position was discussed”.
Since then there have been over 400 issues and it has remained a popular publication with
villagers.
The Chronicle has always striven to fulfil a number or roles: chronicling village life as it happens
in this little corner of England, making people aware of forthcoming events and other important
information, and seeking to entertain its readers.
Around 200 copies of each issue are printed by Waddesdon School. These are delivered free of
charge to every household in Aston Abbotts - also to local Doctor's surgeries, libraries and Wing
police house. This free distribution is made possible by the support of our advertisers, a
contribution from the village fête proceeds (decided at the Annual Parish Meeting), and fund
raising activities.
It has always been, and will always remain, a firm principle that distribution is free to village
residents.
Popular regular features are supplemented by local restaurant reviews, contributions from
villagers, jokes, humorous articles, special features and the occasional bit of controversy.
In 2015 the then editor Phil Corrigan improved the magazine by introducing colour front and back
pages and changing to an A5 format.
Pete Lucas, the current editor, has further improved the magazine by taking advantage of
improved reproduction quality to include more photographs and often printing articles of local
interest.
In 2021 Trevor Hall took on the arduous task of scanning all of the issues from 1983 to 2021 -
12,940 pages! The result of his herculean effort is the Chronicle Archive which has been added to
this website by the webmaster and can be accessed via the link at the top-right of this page. It is
planned to update this archive annually with the previous year’s issues.
1983-1989
Graham Parker
1989-1994
Caroline Lane and Gordon Smith
1994-1995
Rota system with ‘guest’ editors
Chris and Bridget Brandon,
Simon and Helen Dowling,
David de Silva and Barbara
Bellingham, Deirdre Whyte,
Andy Bystra, Gordon Kemp and
Ann Goodman, Janet Biddle,
Margaret Chesher, Margaret
Kent , Jeremy Bale, and
Caroline Lane
1995-1998
Andy Bystra
1998-2000
Andi Swain
2001-2005
Phil Spooner
2006-2009
John Hardcastle
2010
Janice Issitt
2011-2014
John Hardcastle
2015-2016
Phil Corrigan
2016- …
Pete Lucas
Current editor Pete Lucas