NEWT magazine
NEWT (short for Newtown) is a magazine for our community. It was launched at Easter 2013 with the aim of connecting all the communities around our Parish Centre – the Schools, our Café, our Sunday church congregation, and of course the wider local community where people live and work in Newtown and the St John’s Village area – our ‘parish’ in other words. We’ve nicknamed all the people who live, work or worship in our area as ‘Newts’, and a popular regular feature is an in-depth interview with one of those interesting people.
NEWT aims to allow people to share their lives and stories locally and to explore themes that open up the strengths and the possibilities of our inter-linked communities. Both the local primary schools are regular contributors and we have frequent inputs from other faith communities and local groups, reflecting the sparkling diversity of our area. We print over 3,500 copies four times a year and distribute them freely through the two primary schools and through letterboxes, including to the new housing from Kennet Walk to Kenavon Drive.
Latest editions of NEWT
NEWT Summer 2026
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NEWT Easter 2026
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NEWT Christmas 2025
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Previous editions – flipbook view
Previous editions – download only (loads faster)
NEWT wins Gold Award
In 2021, NEWT won a Gold Award in a national competition for local community magazines, organised by ACE – the Association for Church Editors. (Correspondent, Chris Jupp [left] and Editor, Chris Meunier [right] are pictured receiving the award)
That’s encouraging, but we want to keep getting better and closer to our readers. So, if you have a short local story and some great pictures to help tell it, please send them in. We have pages waiting for you. See below for copy dates and contact details.
Planned forthcoming editions:
NEWT has now been running for 12 years
and we have looked for changes we could make to improve it and make it more sustainable. These include:
- We’ll just produce three issues per year – one towards the end of each long school term.
- We’ve formed a larger editorial team to share the work,
and a shared e-mail that reaches that whole team:
newt.magazine.reading@gmail.com
The editions we are planning for the academic year 2025-26 are:
Christmas – theme: Living faithfully
Long-term whole-hearted commitment to people and to values – like the people in the Christmas story
21 November Copy date
2 December Send to printer
9 December Publication –distribution starts
Easter – theme: Holding onto hope
Reasons for hope, and letting our hope keep us joyful, patient and courageous
28 February Copy date
10 March Send to printer
17 March Publication – distribution starts
Summer – theme: Love that lasts
Eternal love, the kind that bears anything, keeps trusting, keeps hoping and never gives up.
19 June Copy date
30 June Send to printer
7 July Publication – distribution starts
Please send your ideas and contributions directly to the editorial team at newt.magazine.reading@gmail.com
Or alternatively to: office@stjohnandststephen.org.uk