Club Magazine History
Club Torque started life in 1990 as the Newsletter of the Mazda MX-5 Club, which was a simple black & white newsletter published quarterly. The newsletter adopted the name Club Talk from February 1993, shifted to an 8 page A4 booklet format, and briefly dabbled with a monthly schedule in 1993. However, it returned to a quarterly issue in 1994 and increased to 12 pages. From Winter 2000, the magazine was made available to members as a colour PDF download, although the hardcopy continued to be printed in black & white. The newsletter expanded to 16-20 pages for 2001-03, but was published infrequently in 2004-06 due to difficulties in finding a regular Editor.
In 2007, Sandie & Paul Williams accepted the job and undertook the ambitious task of publishing a bimonthly magazine. Most issues ran for 16 pages and saw the welcome introduction of full colour for the covers. The name of the magazine was changed to Club Torque for the July/August 2007 issue. Club Torque reverted to a quarterly publication with 20 pages in late 2008. Glenn Thomas took over the magazine in late 2009 and grew it to 24 pages in our Club's 20th Anniversary Year.
For 2011, Bryan Shedden treated Club Torque to a complete redesign and upgraded to full colour on high quality gloss paper - for no significant change in cost. Neil Hamilton-Ritchie succeeded Bryan from the Spring 2012 edition and utilised his graphic design skills to further improve the magazine, with editorial assistance from Timothy Heppell and Andrew Lord. The launch of three new Chapters in 2012-13 saw the magazine grow to 44 pages in order to cover all events, and allowing more opportunity for expansive graphic design.
Mel Keller did a herculean job producing the magazine from 2015 to 2019, raising Club Torque to new highs. Sadly, hers was a hard act to follow and we have struggled since then to consistently produce the magazine, with only 9 editions from the 19 due. However, we're now in good hands with Senia Gaunson volunteering to produce the magazine.
From humble beginnings, Club Torque has become a professionally presented glossy magazine that many members and sponsors proudly display on their coffee table.
Editors
- Mark Sweetman (1991)
- Anne Kehl (1992)
- Bryan Wu (1993-94)
- Justin Ooi (1994-95)
- Steve Remington (1996-97)
- Jeff Gehrig (1998-00)
- Greg Yu (2000)
- Zan Menzel (2000-01)
- Daniella Di Giovanni (2001-03)
- Liam O'Hagan (2004)
- Janine Piscopo (2004)
- Jarrod Miller (2005)
- Daniella Di Giovanni (2006)
- Sandie & Paul Williams (2007-09)
- Glenn Thomas (2010)
- Bryan Shedden (2011-12)
- Neil Hamilton-Ritchie, Timothy Heppell, Andrew Lord (2012-13)
- Timothy Heppell, Andrew Lord (2013-14)
- Rod Carter, Mel Keller (2014)
- Mel Keller (2015-2019)
- Peter Barnwell & Kim Jacobs (2020-21)
- Kerri Langworthy-Ward & G Peter Battisson (2021-22)
- Stephen Carter (2022-24)
- Senia Gaunson (2024+)
Evolution of the magazine header
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