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PUBLISHING ENVIRONMENT.
Sweet and Maxwell, legal publishers, are in the same valley as myself as publisher of Science, People & Politics ISSN 1751-598X. Though I am very happy to speak with their staff in any capacity they might wish, I have not spoken with any in a professional or personal capacity about their company, the title I have founded, the owning company I founded, nor other exploratory ideas. In 2006 I made the US corporate headquarters of the Group (Now Thomson Reuters) aware of my existence in Mytholmroyd and of my publishing activities. I have no idea whether my email made it out of the email boxes I sent it to. In 2006 I outlined a possible strategic plan for the title, I had not at that point formed a company, to academic publishers Springer Verlag (the company I signed a contract with for my own first book) in New York, by phone, when I was discussing with them two outlines for books, one of which books the then commissioning editor was expressing interest in, but the commisioning editor was concerned that the advance would be low (this is not unusual). Nevertheless I approached my bank, with which I had then banked continuously since 1976. In 2006 I made my existence and ideas known to my former boss, the multi-millionaire, Phillip Brown. Phillip Brown was my boss when he owned PJB Publications and I was the editor of Clinica. At his request I sent Phillip a "crude" business plan. He told me to speak to my bank. I did not. At least not in this capacity. I have also made one former executive, known locally to be related to my family, from national newspapers in the UK, aware in 2009 of my aims in a private capacity, and have invited him in a private capacity (no response received) to be a non executive director of Science, People and Politics Ltd., registered in England and Wales. Co No. 0590-1911.
The main market town for the Calder Valley is Halifax. It has a cosmopolitan population with immigrants from locations as diverse as Dewsbury, The Punjab, Poland and Pakistan. To name but a few. The town shows a developing outlook. Access to optical fibre technology prototyping by BT (Mytholmroyd with national rollout potential), to wireless, transport infrastructure (with new routes opening) and other potential routes, to local education from local colleges to Russell Group Universities, and nearby cultural activities and leisure activities make the Calder Valley an ideal place from which to explore business and publishing options.
In driving around the area as a business woman (I became self employed in 1991 as a freelance journalist and author, though again that was not then my first choice, and have worked as a soletrader on both sides of the Atlantic and with international customers), as an editor and journalist and as a postgraduate history research student at CHSTM, the University of Manchester (2002-2005), also travelling by train and by bus, I saw much promise and need for development along the Halifax-Bradford axis, Halifax/Calder Valley-Huddersfield axes, in the Halifax-Hebden Bridge-Keighly triangle, and from Hebden Bridge/Todmorden through to either Burnley or Littleborough and on the Calderdale-Kirklees seesaw. Burnley, Keighley, Halifax, Huddersfield -- the old pack-horse route, key location of Hebden Bridge is at their centre -- and other stalwart towns have some magificent architecture reflective of earlier commercial realities internationally, and which escaped the bombs of the Second World War, all crying out for preservation and sensitive development. Much has already been done in this respect.
Quite a lot of these buildings look to my untutored eye to have the potential to be developed into town-based living accommodation with access to limited parking. Quite a lot of similar development has already been undertaken.
In addition to stunning architecture in need of rescue and preservation these market towns and other nearby locations have fascinating pockets of niche museums and galleries. Unexpectedly high quality gourmet restaurants litter the towns and villages of the region.
From the Calder Valley there is easy access to the National Media Museum in Bradford. Bradford has some excellent ethnic restaurants. International and national airports are nearby. The neighbouring Local Authority of Kirklees has pushed a creative industries' initiative. New train routes are being opened. Leisure locations, such as the Trough of Bowland, Howarth (home of the Brontes) and The Yorkshire Dales, via routes through nearby Keighley, can be reached by car. Other nearby leisure locations include the Pennine Way, Lincolnshire, Derbyshire, Cumbria, North York Moors and coast and Northumberland. These all make the Calder Valley, from my perspective, a potentially competitive location from which to publish.
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