Glasgow, we have lift off!
This morning, at 9.33am, the team (including a napping Dumpling) were huddled around a laptop in Bell HQ, staring feverishly at a little white number on a screen reading 999.
We were waiting to see who would get us over the line, who would cap off our month of adding the new roles of newsboys, podcasters and fundraisers to our existing positions as reporters, social media managers, production editors and graphic designers.
A month of little sleep and lots of hope had all come down to this moment. ‘Ring My Bell’ by Anita Ward was queued.
BOING! Calum’s subscriber notification pings.
WOOOOO! 🎶”You can ring my belllllllll, ring my bell”🎶
1,000 subscribers. We’ve done it. You’ve done it. You have decided that what we do is worth paying for, and that Glasgow deserves dedicated in-depth local journalism. We can’t say this enough: THANK YOU.
Who was the hero who nudged us over the line? Why, none other than Graham Templeton, Beth’s dad, who’d been waiting until the last moment as he wanted to be the 1,000th member. Graham, it worked!
While we will be celebrating today, it's worth saying that now the work really starts. We need to keep our promises. Five pledges: nurture local talent, host in-person events, produce accessible in-depth reporting on Glasgow’s inequalities, publish monthly Good News editions, and make our podcast a permanent fixture, with proper resourcing.
We’ll start with what’s already available: we’ve been publishing taster episodes of ‘Saved By The Bell’, our weekly podcast, and the latest installment is out now, exploring the Voi e-bikes takeover. Our podcast goes behind our reporting and also allows wider access to some of our paywalled stories. You can listen here.
Of course, our campaign doesn’t end until 15 November. The more people who sign up, the more we can invest in our team and bring bigger and better stories to you dear, dear readers. And now we’re oh so close to 3,000 total subs…
Our brilliant deals are still active until midnight on Sunday. They are:
- £65 for a whole year of The Bell, saving you over £40.
- £2.99 per month for two months’ access.
We’re going to be celebrating with you all in December — announcements to come. As ever, there will be members’ discounts for tickets so sign up while you can!
And thank you again to everyone who got us to this point. We can’t wait to show you what we can do with your support.
