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Behind the scenes of Oremus

Behind any successful product lies a professional team. Oremus is no different except that its band of 15 give their time and skills as volunteers.

Most have been Cathedral worshippers for many years. Some pursue hectic careers, others include Oremus in their many activities in retirement. But each, with his or her particular responsibility on Oremus, is essential to making it the magazine of distinction it is today. Oremus Managing Editor Blandine Tugendhat says: "People are amazed when they hear that this professional looking magazine is produced by a small band of volunteers with great skills who are generous with their time in spite of the busy lives they lead. It would be good to enrol more members to spread the work, continue to better the magazine and take over if someone has to step down so that this loss, though unfortunate, does not throw Oremus into a crisis."

In its long years of existence, Westminster Cathedral’s magazine has seen many changes in name, format and production process. In January 2005 Oremus became a full colour magazine. But its core purpose of reflecting the life of the Cathedral and of those who make it a place of worship has remained solid.

Safeguarding this fundamental purpose, in his role as Editor, is the Cathedral’s Communications Officer, Fr Tim Dean. He returned to the Cathedral and was welcomed back to the Oremus team in January 2005 after an absence of a few years. Fr Tim has the last word on what goes into every issue. The Editor does not have to be a priest but the magazine does need a point of reference who can represent the Cathedral and its clerical staff. Only in this way can Oremus hope to keep abreast of the many things that go on within and beyond the Cathedral’s walls. As Chaplain to the Choir School, governor or other schools, and priest of the Cathedral, Fr Tim is extremely busy but he still devotes time each day to producing and editing Oremus.

Retired secretary Elizabeth Benjamin lives in Pinner and joined Oremus in 1997. She has been involved in other areas of Cathedral life for many years but now dedicates two days a week to the magazine and she ensures that copy is prepared in time for the design team. She also acts as an effective Team Secretary although too modest to admit this!
Oremus could not function properly without the enormous secretarial and administrative work Elizabeth Benjamin does.

The Features Editor, Natasha Stanic, has been in the team of the magazine since the early 1980s. She is a very busy lady who is a classics tutor at the Open University and teaches Slovenian at the Foreign Office. Oremus is very fortunate to benefit from her creative ideas. She is invaluable at sourcing articles or producing them herself.

Assisting with Oremus’ finances is Treasury official Liz Roberts, who came on board in 1998. Liz, who lives in Chiswick, produces a detailed finance breakdown for editorial meetings, where she also takes the minutes. The team meets on average every three months. All areas are discussed but top of the agenda is editorial content, based on the liturgical and Cathedral diary. Many of the articles are commissioned from outside people but Oremus also has writers on its team.

The past Managing Editor, Joseph Bonner, joined Fr Tim in a creative partnership which saw the magazine expand, a team being formed, the present format, structure and it its new name, “Oremus”, adopted. After eight years, Joseph’s successful career took him away.

Blandine Tugendhat succeeded him in 2003. She co-ordinates the editorial, production and administration, working with each member of the team, the printers and the other contributors who fill the magazine’s pages. Blandine, who lives locally, has been coming to the Cathedral for 36 years.

Sharon Jennings, Parish Correspondent, writes news articles. Writing some of the magazine's themed features are Patrick Rogers, who came to Oremus just after Rebecca Thomas, who joined in 1999. Patrick, a retired researcher with the Ministry of Defence and Cabinet Office, is a specialist in unearthing and writing about the Cathedral’s fascinating history. He lives in Twickenham and is also the Cathedral Historian and Visits Officer.

Julian Game as Design and Art Director is a great asset for Oremus. Julian is a professional advertising and graphics designer who runs his own company. He came to Oremus in January 2005 when the magazine was published in full colour for the first time. Since that time the visual contents of Oremus have kept improving thanks to Julian’s skills.
Berenice Roethli has been proof reading the magazine for over one year. She took early retirement recently and has undertaken to take over many organising tasks.

All Oremus pre-press production was brought in-house in 1997 after donations from readers and a grant from the Friends helped to buy the necessary computer equipment. This has led to Oremus being a far slicker production and less time-consuming project each month. If it comes out a little late, there is a good reason, such as waiting for pictures of an important event. Splash, based in North West London, were chosen by competitive tender in 2004 to print the magazine and since then they have worked behind the scenes providing a very reliable and professional service.
Oremus is self-funding so an Advertising Manager would play a vital role in securing money from advertisers. We need someone to liaise with existing clients and who will work on securing new ones. This is the only way Oremus can break even.

With the continued support of the Oremus team, contributors, advertisers, subscribers and of course readers, the magazine should proceed onwards and upwards indefinitely. After all, it is simply the latest manifestation of previous Cathedral publications going back over 100 years.

Based on an article first published in Oremus, the magazine of Westminster Cathedral, June 2001.

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