''Ely Ensign'' was the news and current affairs magazine for the
Anglican Diocese of Ely from December 1989 until January 2007.
Background
''Ely Ensign'', commonly called ''The Ensign'', was launched as the official newspaper for the
Diocese of Ely in 1989. It was conceived as a news based magazine with a variety of comment, educational articles and local history of wide interest in addition to news relating to the work of the Diocese.
Unlike most diocesan in-house magazines ''Ely Ensign'' contained up-to-date news stories and features written by professional journalists who gave their time voluntarily. Much of its content was newsworthy and of general interest and it built up a wide readership which included subscribers who had no particular link with the
Anglican Church
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the ...
.
Notable news stories
Che Jesus
''Ely Ensign'' played a central role in the
Che Jesus controversy when the Churches Advertising Network (CAN) in 1999 carried out a marketing campaign which featured a poster portraying
Jesus Christ
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
in the style of a famous picture of the Marxist revolutionary
.
At the time of the launch,
Ely Vicar and former advertising executive, the Reverend
Peter Owen-Jones, wrote in the ''Ely Ensign'' that the image "would be pinned to the walls of teenage girls' rooms". His comment infuriated leading critics who voiced their opinions in the national press. Replying to the criticism the
Bishop of Ely Stephen Sykes defended the campaign in ''The Ensign'' and rejected accusations that it was blasphemous. "The intention of the advertisement is to cause remark," he said. "It has been successful."
Forces sweethearts reunited
The discovery of a memorial window at the
USAAF
The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...
Museum in
Savannah, Georgia
Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the British colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later t ...
, which featured a UK Cambridgeshire church, led to an unusual story about the revival of a wartime romance. American fighter pilots in the
457th Bombardment Group 457th may refer to:
*457th Air Expeditionary Group, provisional United States Air Force unit assigned to the Air Combat Command
*457th Airlift Squadron (457 AS), part of the 375th Airlift Wing at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland
*457th Fighter Squa ...
based at
Glatton
Glatton is a village and civil parish in Cambridgeshire, England, some south-west of Peterborough, near the villages of Conington, Yaxley and Stilton. It lies in the non-metropolitan district of Huntingdonshire, which is part of Cambridgesh ...
, near
Peterborough
Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...
, during the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
had used the neighbouring Conington village church as a landmark during their bombing raids over
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. The distinctive four spires on All Saints Church tower were a reminder to pilots that they were close to home after many hours in the air. In time this church became a memorable icon for the American veterans as they visited the village every two years to remember their fallen colleagues. A resident of Glatton, Sarah Baines, read the Ely Ensign article, and was reunited with her former American forces sweetheart whom she had not met for sixty years.
Controversial appointment
The ''Ely Ensign'' had an open and robust approach to its news stories and was not afraid to report stories that might be unfavourable to the Diocese. In 1998 it covered a dispute in the village of Eltisely caused by the proposed appointment of a team Vicar who was separated from her husband.
History
With the increase in printing costs and decrease in advertising revenue, the Ely Ensign came to a close in 2007.
[ Ely Diocesan Synod Minutes, 10 March 2007] Requests from its readers led to its popular style being incorporated into an online diocesan newsletter calle
eLife
During Ely Ensign's eighteen-year life it won several awards including the Christian Media Award in 2005.
The Ensign was the last of three diocesan magazines published by Ely. The original publication was the Ely Diocesan Remembrancer which began in May 1885 and ran until December 1915.
The Remembrancer was replaced in January 1916 by the Ely Diocesan Gazette, the forerunner of the Ely Ensign.
[''Ely Ensign closes''. Cambridge Evening News. 13 March 2007.]
Editors
References
{{Reflist
Defunct magazines published in the United Kingdom
Magazines established in 1989
Magazines disestablished in 2007
Diocese of Ely
Monthly magazines published in the United Kingdom
Church of England publications
Religious magazines published in the United Kingdom
News magazines published in the United Kingdom