The Good Times is The Church of London’s response to the January blues and the result of a week-long project to write, design and print a one-off newspaper which celebrates only good news…

In the seven days leading up to today’s publication date (which, according to the dubious claim of an ad campaign from a few years ago, is the ‘most depressing day of the year’*) TCoL rallied writers, designers and illustrators together to produce a newspaper which exclusively features ‘good news’ stories. (*Bah. You can tell I could probably do with a dose of The Good Times forthwith.)

The newspaper features visual contributions from Holly Wales, Spencer Murphy, Shelley Jones, Sam Christmas, Lauren Gentry, Andy J Miller, Michael Fordham, and a cover illustration by Dale Edwin Murray. A photo story on where to swim outdoors in London also features work by Nick Ballon, Ruth Carruthers and Trent McMinn.

According to their site, TCoL “sought out the people and organisations who are giving us reasons to be cheerful about the troubled times we live in. Our search has covered politics, technology, sport, art, the environment and many other walks of life.” The company’s progress with the issue has also been documented in daily installments at goodtimes.thechurchoflondon.com.

Copies have been distributed in London today and the paper was available direct from the TCoL office on Leonard Street in east London. But a variety of places are stocking the issue (a list is here) and there will be a limited amount at shop.stackmagazines.com (P&P/PayPal charges apply). It is also available as an issuu digital edition, eBook, PDF download and in HTML format from goodtimes.thechurchoflondon.com.

“2011 was a really busy year for us, which left us all pretty worn out,” continue TCoL. “As it drew to a close, we decided that it’d be great to kick-start our 2012 with an exciting publishing project that not just reminded us why we love what we do, but also celebrated everything we’d learned in the past few years.”

“We often describe ourselves as a company that wants to ‘make a contribution’, and it’s not for nothing. This is our chance to shout out about things that mean something to us, and to do so in a way that’s in keeping with our ethos as a company that champions independent thinking as well as initiatives that have a social and cultural impact.”

Accordingly, TCoL say that they are “covering the print and distribution costs for this project, and won’t be paying anyone for their work on it, or selling or making profit from any of the content that we produce along the way.”

So, go on, enjoy The Good Times!

CR in Print

If you only read CR online, you’re missing out. The January issue of Creative Review is a music special with features on festivals, the future of the music video and much much more. Plus it comes with its very own soundtrack for you to listen to while reading the magazine.

If you would like to buy this issue and are based in the UK,you can search for your nearest stockist here. Based outside the UK? Simply call +44(0)207 292 3703 to find your nearest stockist. Better yet, subscribe to CR for a year here and save yourself almost 30% on the printed magazine.