In May this year, The Chap launched an appeal to save this gentlemen’s journal from going under, and the response was overwhelming. Donations flooded in from all over the civilised world and countless rousing messages of support were posted. We were genuinely humbled by this, and had no idea how much desire there was to keep the Chap afloat.
Within a short time, enough funds were raised to proceed with publication of the June issue. We will get it on the shelves and doormats by 1st July, so it will arrive less than a month later than planned. In the meantime, a few assurances are in order:
The only effect this appeal will have on current subscribers is that they will receive the June issue a month late. After that their subscription cycle will continue as usual. New subscribers may rest assured that The Chap is now fully afloat again, and measures have been taken to ensure that we never find ourselves in such a ghastly position again.
Our first step will be to return The Chap to its former B5 format, though it will remain in colour. The principal cause of our financial woes was an unsustainably expensive A4 format, which not only doubled our printing costs but also our postage costs, what with the Royal Mail’s new postage charges based on size rather than weight.
The editorial staff of The Chap would like to extend a warm thanks to the hundreds of supporters who sent donations to our appeal. Without you we would almost certainly have ceased publication. Each and every one of you will be acknowledged in the June issue. We would also like to add a special thanks to the gentlemen who publish the Viz, who dug extremely deep into the pockets of their overalls in our hour of need
June 4, 2009
