The main purpose of the e-letter is to promote activities in the parish by sending a very brief and transitory communication, which can be read and then discarded, the reader noting the items that are of interest . It lists in three columns, the name and location of the event, date and very brief additional information that might be considered necessary. It also enables past residents of the Parish, and those with family links to keep in touch with what is happening.
When more detailed information about an event is available or necessary, this information is placed on the Notice board of the Parish Web Site and a hyperlink is added to the e-letter, so that a mouse-click on the link in the e-letter provides instant access to this detail. This useful facility ensures that the e-letter always remains brief.
A popular feature of the E-letter is the 'village' photograph-different each time - that usually appears in its banner, usually with a short caption. These are usually of an event that has happened since the previous edition. An additional benefit is that it facilitates the 'show-casing' of numerous pictures from village events very quickly after they have taken place, often the next day. This is done by linking to the Parish Web Site.
It compliments the Joint Parish Magazine, and does not compete with it. A recognised problem with the Joint Parish Magazine in publicising certain types of events or news is the relatively long copy date of two to three weeks, that is necessary for it's production. In contrast, the E-letter can be produced and sent out in less than one hour.
This underlines another use for the e- letter. Sometimes information needs to be distributed quickly-information about a lost pet, for example. On another occasion there was a pollution scare relating to the mains water supply. In these cases a 'special edition ' is distributed, usually in the form of a simple e-mail, with no other topic covered.
An important secondary purpose of the e- letter is to encourage subscribers to visit the Winsham Parish Web site and the Winsham Web Museum more frequently, and in this ,through the use and relevance of the links already mentioned. it has been very successful. The analysis of visits to the Parish Web site immediately after the distribution of an e-letter shows a dramatic increase. This effect has been an important consideration in the decision to modernise the Winsham Web Museum design, so that it too can accept page links from the e-letter.
A major change in mid-2010 was the end of attaching the E-letter to an e-mail, necessitating it to be opened before it could be read. The E-Letter is now copied onto the E-mail 'carrier', which greatly facilitates links to web sites for those subscribers who do not have appropriate word processing software, and can be read fully by just opening the e-mail. No further action is required
The e-letter also carries on a permanent basis important links to emergency services, and also announces when Minutes of meetings by important local bodies are available on the Parish Web Site, i.e. latest Parish Council and Jubilee Hall Management Committee meetings. J.S.S-February 2012
Unfortunately the links contained in the archived letters below do not usually work, as the target web site is constantly changing.