Having tasted success, we wanted more, but halfway through 1996 the situation wasn't looking too good - our gain was only in single figures. So we thought we'd go for the 'Best Overall' category. In the months since winning, we'd incorporated several new ideas. One of these was a monthly newsletter, partly to avoid having to pass numerous pieces of paper round at each meeting - everything could be included in this periodical. And so it was that Whiteparish SCUD (Share Club UpDate) came into being. Produced with a simple bit of DTP software on a PC and photocopied by Peter G, it has proved quite popular with regular contributions from John W (cartoon), Joan (recipe), Jon (leader column) Jenny (stats), plus articles from other members and news clippings (Scuttings) on shares in our portfolio.
The original intention of this organ was to promote our club in the hope of winning a ProShare prize. As you will have read in a recent Dividend magazine, there are now getting on for 5000 clubs, some 15 times more than when we registered, and I think our chances of winning again are remote. SCUD has therefore outlived it’s usefulness. My grateful thanks to the stalwarts who contributed on a regular monthly basis - to Joan for all her wonderful recipes, John W (surely he has a future as a financial cartoonist) for the creation of FOOTSIE, Jon for his acutely observed editorials and articles gleaned from the internet, and of course, Jen for her meticulous statistics. Other members are remembered, too, for their occasional contributions.
The final edition of SCUD appeared in April 1999 after 31 issues. Apart from the reason above, it was also because the copying facility was lost, and the amount of time it took to put together.
Following our failure to win the ProShare Competition in 1996, this website was set up in time for the 1997 entry; we figured as a club we had been pretty active, visiting several other clubs and groups who subsequently set up clubs of their own. But to no avail. Our efforts to win a new category for 1998 - the Achievement Award, again failed.
I see this year (1999) there are two new categories in the ProShare awards, one for newsletters and one for websites. Good luck to those who participate - it will be interesting to see the winning entries.