Bringing Christmas to the elderly with the Southmead Carol Bus

The snow may have been fake, but it was pretty cold, which is why this photographer's hands were shaking so much, no doubt. The picture shows me, Santa and "Santa's Little Helper" , in the hat, towering over Santa.

This evening, I was invited to join Cliff Howell on his Southmead Carol Bus as it visited elderly people's homes in North West Bristol. It really was an honour. Every year Cliff drives the carol bus to a number of homes, and Father Christmas goes in and visits the elderly residents personally.

Although the aim of the evening was simply to bring some Christmas to those who may otherwise not have much in the way of festivities, I was also holding the collecting tin. All money raised tonight and on Friday night's Southmead Tour will go to local community projects and charities.

I've said before that pictures speak 1000 words. I'm not sure in that case how many words videos speak, but I suspect it's a lot more. So since I'm now obsessed with embedding youtube videos into everything, I'll let these do the talking, and leave you with a very fine picture of the Carol Bus's very own Santa's Little Helper. ( sorry, SLH, I couldn't resist!)

Remembrance Sunday - a poppy is only the beginning

In the cold drizzle at the war memorial in Westbury on Trym, I laid a wreath this morning.

I think Remembrance Sunday is one of the most sobering and significant days of the year. My granddad fought in the second world war and was awarded the Military Cross for bravery. Unthinkable numbers like him died in performing extraordinary acts of bravery and sacrifice.

Sometimes I worry that the easy wearing of a poppy (costs around a pound or so, depending on how generous you feel) can become a substitute for thinking hard about what it, and the day, actually signifies.

It signifies remembrance for those who gave their lives so we can enjoy the life we live today. It signifies recognition of a generation who lived and fought in their own various ways through two bloody world wars not so very long ago. And it signifies remembrance and respect for our armed forces fighting today, and those lost in recent conflicts.

But as we nationally stand round our war memorials, wearing poppies and listening to Elgar's Nimrod or the the last post , our armed forces are struggling in Iraq and Afghanistan with out-of-date equipment, inadequate investment and insufficiently protected vehicles.

At home, pensioners, some of whom lived and fought through the second world war, are living on the breadline or below, with their pension funds robbed by Gordon Brown, and now struggling with interest rate cuts and fuel heating bills. Old people who survived the blitz will be struggling to live through the credit crunch.

Equipping our armed forces for the conflict to which the Government has committed them and supporting our elderly and giving them the recognition they deserve for seeing this country through its darkest hours are the true emblems of remembrance for our war dead.

If we are not prepared to protect our armed forces by providing them with proper equipment, and if we are not prepared to protect and look after our elderly and veterans today - by providing residential wardens where they are needed, and ensuring that 'independence' does not simply mean 'on your own', - wearing a poppy is little more than simply sticking a red bit of card on the lapel.

Post Offices want a hand up, not a hand out...

Today, Charles Hendry MP ( Shadow Minister for Postal Affairs) came to Bristol to talk about the closure of Wellington Hill West Post Office and 28 others across the city.

(Photo shows Mani Ghuman, from the Federation of Sub Postmasters, me, the Sub Postmaster of Wellington Hill West- David Mothersdill, Charles Hendry MP, and Adrian Mothersdill, assistant sub postmaster.)

True to form, Labour only seem to be able to talk money and subsidies when it come to the saving the post office network. We have pledged to match subsidy on the network to keep it alive, but what Labour cannot seem to understand, is that simply loading money into something is not the answer.


The tragic and infuriating thing about the closure of post offices is that if you actually speak to the sub-postmasters involved, they are itching with ideas as to how to make their post office outlet competitive. Sub-Postmasters don't want to exist on Government subsidy, but on business success.

Sub-Postmasters don't want to exist on Government subsidy, but on business success.

Many sub-post masters wanted to offer all sorts of services - mobile top ups, council counters but were prevented from doing so by Post Office ltd. When Post Office ltd. finally caught onto the fact that these were good things, the post masters had missed the boat and other stores had cornered the market. Even now, sub-post masters have been constrained in their drive to make their business a going venture instead of a subsidy dependent appendage of the state.

Labour MPs who voted for the closure of post office branches ( including all Bristol Labour MPs, except Kerry McCarthy who, I understand , was not present for the vote ) whitter on pathetically about Tories and subsidies. The point is, that whilst we have pledged to match the subsidies, the Post Office network shouldn't NEED the subsidies. It is full of bright entrepreneurs who want to inject vitality and health into the network to make it more self-sustaining.

Before we start closing down our valuable and irreplaceable community network of Post Offices, let's liberate the Post Masters to really make a go of it, as so many are itching to do. Only then, when we have liberated Post Offices to compete in the modern world, reassessed the amount of subsidy that the post office needs in that light, should we even begin to think about closing any down. Closures before that point are little less than the unnecessary decimation of hundreds of communities.

Post Office Closures? This Government ain't bovvered

What do we have to do to get the Government to listen?
Despite a massive protest march, over 1000 petition signatures, a full report which I submitted to Post Office Ltd, and literally hundreds of detailed consultation submissions from local residents, the Government is going ahead with its closure of Wellington Hill West Post Office, Northville Road in Filton, Middleton Road in Lawrence Weston and dozens of post offices across the city. The effect that this will have on local residents cannot be calculated.

During my campaign to save our local post offices I have spoken to so many people for whom their local post office is literally a life-line: The elderly who simply have no way of performing daily tasks without their local post office; the disabled who will not be able to make the difficult journey to their next nearest post office - and one war hero who told me how he had sacrificed everything for his country in the second world war and couldn't understand why the Government was stripping away his local amenities in his old age.

If those in charge of the consultation had actually talked to ordinary people and listened to how they would be effected, perhaps they would have reached a different decision. But as it is, it is hard to believe that the so-called 'consultation process' was little more than a PR exercise, and an excuse to go ahead with the closures regardless. The Government seems to be saying, like Catherine Tate's Lauren, 'Am I bovvered?'. No wonder people have lost faith in politics, and lost faith when the Government says it is going to 'listen'. What is particularly amazing is that our local Labour MP voted in favour of the closures in Parliament.

It is unlikely, however hard we exercise our democratic rights, that we are going to be able to reverse these disastrous decisions to close our post offices. But I for one will be looking more closely at the consultation process, and if there is any way we can challenge the decision on the basis that the consultation was flawed, you can be guaranteed we will do it. If you feel that you have evidence that the consultation process was flawed, please get in touch: charlotte@charlotteleslie.com or telephone: 0117 9736811

I would like to thank, once again, all those residents who campaigned so hard to keep our post offices open. It is testament to a failing regime that nobody seemed to listen. But that doesn't mean we will stop shouting.

Over 200 Protesters: Over 1000 signatures say: Save our Post Office!

Over 200 local residents joined in the protest march to save Wellington Hill West Post Office, and post offices across Bristol on Saturday.

Together, we marched from The Beehive Pub to rally outside Wellington Hill West Post Office, which despite being one of the busiest branches in the area, is threatened with closure.
Then we went on to march up Henleaze Road to form the longest post office queue Bristol has ever seen outside Henleaze Road post office, to illustrate:

1. How difficult it will be for the elderly and disabled to make it to the next nearest post office. ( I like to think of myself as a pretty energetic type, but it WAS a bit of a walk!)

2. The chaos at Henleaze Road Post Office at busy times like the run up to Christmas.
Many older residents told me that they were sorry but they wouldn't actually be able to make it all the way up to Henleaze Road Post Office since it was too far for them to be able to walk - which tragically proves the point.

It was really disappointing to see that Doug Naysmith MP, representing the local Labour party voted in favour of the closures in a recent debate in the House of Commons - but local people have made their voice heard as strongly as they can: Post Offices matter - for residents, for local business, for the community. It is wrong to close them down - particularly when sub-postmasters are ready, willing and able to make their small business more viable. But the Government and Post Office Ltd. seem determined not to let them make a go of it, but to axe them instead.

The consultation closes on April 9th. I am submitting a full report together with over 1000 signatures and comments from local people against the closure. We'll have to await the verdict of Post Office ltd which will be announced in a few weeks - but a huge thanks to all those residents who came out in force to oppose the closures. We really have done everything we can.

ps. If you're wondering about that big white envelope thing in the corner of the picture - it's a stiff letter to Post Office Ltd. - On cardboard... (groan now.)

JOIN THE BIG POST OFFICE PROTEST MARCH!

Yep, Bristol's biggest Post Office Protest March is taking place tomorrow, April 5th, starting from The Beehive Pub at 10am.

We'll be marching past Wellington Hill West Post Office and up the hill to form Bristol's biggest ever post office queue outside Henleaze Road Post Office.

Bring placards, banners and a stong voice!

Then back to The Beehive for some well needed refreshment after, I think.

See you there!

Save our Post Offices!

This weekend I launched our campaign to save our post offices. A leak to the Evening Post reported that the post offices facing the axe in Bristol North West are Wellington Hill West, and Middleton Road.
Labour has already closed one in four post offices in Bristol North West, and is closing 2,500 around the country.

Labour's refusal to support post offices shows a complete lack of appreciation of what function a post office actually performs. Not only does it fulfill the obvious functions, but also provides a focal point for place for people to meet and chat - particularly the elderly.

I was out campaigning on Saturday, and I have lost count of the elderly people who told me they did not know what they would do if the post office closed. Cynics have asked what we would do differently - well, here's what!

Conservatives plan to:

• Give Sub-Post Offices more freedom to offer a wider range of business services
• Push for more Post Offices to be 'One Stop Shops'
• Encourage local Councils to open 'Council Counters' in local branches Allow the Post Office to work with carriers other than the Royal Mail
• Prevent the Royal Mail taking business away from sub-Post Offices by under-cutting the prices they can charge for postage

Post Watch have advised that the best way to make sure that our protest against the closure of these post offices to carries weight is for local people to submit comments on why, specifically, the post office should stay open.

TO SUBMIT YOUR SIGNATURE TO OUR PETITION, AND A COMMENT, VISIT THE CAMPAIGN WEBSITE WWW.SAVEPOSTOFFICES.COM

Post Office Closure = End for small business...

About 3 months ago, I popped into Debbie's butchers on Filton Avenue. Debbie told me how since the post office had closed ( as pic.) business had plummeted and she was worried she would have to close.

Last week, I went in, and the butchers was closing. Across the road, Avenue Fruit and veg were also shutting their doors for the last time.

Next week there will be an announcement to close more post offices in the Bristol area, and at least two of those in Bristol North West.

Filton Avenue is, sadly, testament to the huge amount of damage ripping the heart of a community, like the Post Office, can do. When the announcement is made, I will be fighting tooth and nail - not only for the post offices under threat, but for those who use them, and the small businesses who depend so much on the post office's trade. Tragically, it's too late for Debbie's Butchers and Avenue Fruit and Veg - but we owe it to them to fight against letting the same thing happen again.