History
Opportunities magazine was started in Edinburgh in 1963 by The Forth Publishing Company Ltd. The first issue was dated 5th July 1963 and seven pages of classified advertising.
Advertising rates were 4 shillings a line (bold headings counted two lines each), and for display positions, a ¼ page was £16 and a full page cost £60.
The wording in many of the adverts would absolutely not be allowed these days (and rightly so), for example ‘Junior Clerkess aged 16/17’ which is rather specific!
Over the following years, circulation was increased until it was nationwide with around 60,000 copies going out weekly.
In February 1974 the format changed from A4 to ‘newspaper’ format around A3. The first issue in the new format had a header which read;
‘We change to newspaper format this week to speed production and thereby minimise the effect of postal delays caused by rail strikes and other disputes’
By now the advertising rates had increased to 40p a line, or 8 shillings in old money! (decimalisation had kicked-in a little earlier.)
The magazine was bought by Link House Publications in May 1974. Publication and advertising was handled in Edinburgh at first, then moved to London, and then to Poole in Dorset.
It changed hands again in 1989 when it became part of United Advertising Publications, which itself became part of United Business Media.
In 1998 the format returned to A4, probably as a result of the Royal Mail changing the delivery cost mechanism.
And finally in April 2007 it was sold to the present owner Graeme Ratten.
Yes, that’s us. We are very excited about it. We are a private company based in Henley on Thames, and we care about this magazine, it’s readers and it’s advertisers.
We have already invested in a new website, and have developed more effective advertising packages.
The magazine is now printed on recycled paper, and distributed in a biodegradable bag.
From January 2008 it will be printed by Blackmore’s in Dorset, who have won numerous awards for their environmentally friendly processes.
(If you worked on Opportunities at any point in it’s 44 year history, please get in touch – we’d like to buy you a drink)
