It Takes A Village Idiot

Always read the small print

s some of you smarter readers might have already guessed, it takes quite a bit of blood, sweat and tea to put the Greystones Guide together.

It also takes, on average, 26 hours a day, eight days a week.

Nine during the busy seasons. Such as summer, autumn and winter. And spring.

If we didn’t love keeping the Guide fire burning daily, hey, we would have quit a long time ago. Having started out with the idea that if we put together a living, breathing, ass-kicking guide to all things Greystones – past, present and future – we could survive on the kindness of local business gurus and everyday gurriers to hit that Holy Grail of the minimum wage. Community-led and community-fed, people.

At least, back in 2011, that was the glorious plan. For a small membership fee – starting at €50 per year, or €5 a month – the Guide would produce hand-stitched, top-of-the-range, oven-ready, Grade A features that would reach out and touch thousands upon thousands of fellow Greystonians. And a one-off feature costs just €25. By contrast, The Bray People charges €800 for one feature.

If there is a downside to the Guide, it’s that we have a habit of offending halfwits. Slaving away in the kitchen every single day will eventually turn you into Gordon Ramsey. So, if you have been upset by our incredible wit and insight, please email us on [email protected], and we’ll get back to you asap. For sure.

Somewhere between town crier and village idiot, the Guide cruised past the 500,000 hits a month in recent years (streets ahead of any other Wicklow media) by keeping de peoples well informed every single day of all the events, new sensations, groovy get-togethers and juicy gossip happening in this idyllic neck of the woods. Heck, we even managed to sell a guy’s house for him down in Charlesland. And it cost him just €25.

So, far from the maddening crowing of social media, as we try to both promote and chronicle this rockin’ little town of ours without ever running any spamtastic ads, we also have to think about ways of keeping ourselves in such luxuries as bread and water. And electricity, to run our banks and banks of computers.

We’ve had some incredible support from not only fine businesses over the years but individuals too, the latter heeding our original 2019 call for a little help from our friends. But, thanks to our refusal to allow Google ads and all the rest, it’s still a struggle. 

The Guide is basically a limo ride that just needs a little petrol money.

So, time to try a little People Power. If you feel you can throw something into the hat by subscribing or donating to the Guide, well, we’d be excited agus delighted. There are three monthly options below, of €5, €10 or, if you’re feeling crazy, €15, any of which would make a huge, huge difference to our daily slog. And our nightly sleeps.  

Ultimately, putting together the Guide is a life, not a living, and once we’ve hit that golden target of a minimum wage, we’ll step back from all this uncouth panhandling, and just spend our days reading Private Eye whilst lounging around on a selection of soft furnishings. Hopefully.

To become a Guide Cadet, just sign up below. Or you can check out our other options – including a simple one-off donation – to help keep this lighthouse blinking right over here. For one-off donations, make sure to scroll down past subscriptions. You can also Revolut on 0872848684.

Suffice to say, you will have our undying love. For at least an hour and a half each and every month.