Regular readers will be aware that for the first three years of its production Social Education Trust (SET) has financed and managed the Webmag. SET trustees have now decided that it is time to relinquish this responsibility. The Executive Council of Caring for Children, one of the three organisations which has been supporting the mag from its creation has decided to take over the management and development of the Mag from 1st January 2003, which will mark the beginning of its fourth year.

Those readers who have been with us from issue one will have seen the terrific growth and development of the magazine so far.

We have readers from more than 40 countries. We now have over 100,000 hits for each new issue. In total since 1st January 2000 more than two million people have visited some part of our site.

We are recognised by the major search engines, who swiftly direct job seekers to the appropriate section in our Situations Vacant. People are now offering articles without being pressed by the Editorial Board.

The magazine was conceived as a service to the service - a means of linking isolated child care workers and disseminating news, views and ideas. It is intended to support those of you working in difficult situations and inform you about good practice. We think that we have gone a long way to meeting those objectives over the past two years.

Now the CfC Council wants to build on those strengths and push ahead with a number of developments. The major change which we would like to see is in the development of a greater sense of ownership among you, our readers. We want much more reaction from you and interaction with you.

If the Mag is really going to be of great service to the service it needs much more in-put from you. Remember that although the mag is written by experienced workers and managers it is not written by experts, so it's OK to tell us that things are different where you work. Other folks might also like to hear of your successes and triumphs. Sling in a few random thoughts and let the Editor do the rest.

The new look Webmag with be run by the Webmag Operations Team ( WOT ). The group will be chaired by Keith White, the Chair of CfC and will be made up of the Editor, the Production Manager, an advisor and the advertising manager. Business will be done mostly telephone conferences and e-mail. If you have some particular skills which you would like to offer why not contact Keith White and discuss how you can contribute. Click here to e-mail him.

Without SET money there is also a need to find other benefactors and sponsors. Contacts and introductions will be most welcome. Contact Keith at the link above.

We shall measure our success at the end of 2003 by the amount of reaction we stimulate. So start hitting those keyboards.