District 105C

For Club PR and Communications Officers releasing big news to a wider group than their immediate local community, the relaunch of Community Newswire comes at an opportune time. The best news of all is that it is completely free for community groups such as Lions.

The charity Community Newswire service has survived an announced cut and has been relaunched with support from the Big Lottery Fund. This has enabled the service to move back into full operation as from October 2011.

Lions clubs organising major events or with big news to announce can make use of the service completely free of charge. Draft your press release - ideally with as much relevant information as you can gather - and click on http://www.mediatrust.org/get-support/community-newswire. This will show you how to submit your information. If it is considered important, the Newswire will send details to the official Press Association, which will write a story and release it to media in a wider area.

Not all stories will be used and not all media organisations will pick up on it but we used the service recently to announce the theme of the 2012 Lions-organised Great Knaresborough Bed Race and found it reprinted in newspapers throughout Yorkshire, the North East and Lincolnshire. It does work and appears to be more effective than trying to do the same thing ourselves.