WEC Publications has been based at WEC's Bulstrode headquarters for decades. I don't really know how long. WEC
Publications was closely linked to WEC Youth for many years, and in
those days most of the publications were associated with Warrior
magazine, and included the Warrior Gang booklets illustrated by
Dudley Watkins, who illustrated comics for the Dundee firm of D CThomson. Characters such as Desperate Dan were drawn by him. In the
1960s he illustrated a number of booklets for WEC.
It was with the birth of the WEC Press at
Bulstrode that WEC began to produce its own books. Norman Grubb,
son-in-law of WEC's founder C T Studd, wrote a number of books, both
accounts of WEC history and work and a number of inspirational books
reflecting his own theology, but these were published by LutterworthPress, who continue to curate much of Norman Grubb's output. His biography
of C T Studd is a classic which is still in print. Helen Roseveare
followed Norman Grubb in having her books initially published by
Lutterworth Press, but then her books were published by Hodder &
Stoughton. The WEC Press began to produce books with a much smaller
ambition and circulation. I believe the first one was With God inCongo Forests by David Davies, now available as an e-book.
WEC Publications was led for many years by Chris
Scott, who had also led the WEC Youth team. Bill Elcock assisted him,
particularly by looking after stock and sales. They worked closely
with the WEC Press team at Bulstrode, and Chris was still overseeing
the work when he retired to Sheffield. He died not long afterwards. I
then took over the editorial responsibility for WEC Publications in
1998, while Bill continued to handle stock and sales until he
retired.
At that point WEC Publications left Bulstrode, and
for some years both the editorial and distribution side were part of
Wellspring Media, based in Haslingden, east Lancashire. Then in 2012
we closed the office in Haslingden, and moved with our stock to
Bulstrode.
Now I have moved again, this time to the Wiltshire
market town of Devizes. Our stock remains at Bulstrode, where GillianArmstrong looks after it and supplies customers all over the world.
This situation is not fixed, however. WEC has
decided to relocate from Bulstrode. Where will our stock go next?
Watch this space!
I can help a little with the dating. WEC Publications started around 1982 in Bulstrode; prior to that publications had been organized via WEC Youth. Youth moved from Birmingham to the Bulstrode head office, and then was reorganized with Publications created as a separate department. The new Publications Dept had the brief to produce books for adults as well as the youth publications. I was recruited in 1983 to join Chris and Bill as a writer.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Glenn.
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