village market sept2014

VILLAGE MARKETt h e

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‘The Village Market’ - new innovation in local publishing

Celebrate British food in all it’s local, seasonal glory - pages 18 -211

SEPTEMBER 2014

See page 8

Scary funstersHINT’S FIRST EVER fabulous ‘Scarecrow Fes-tival’ will be staged on

Sunday, 21st September 2014 (11am - 4.30pm).

Villagers are raising loot for St. Bartholomew’s Church na Hints Village Hall. Their event will be packed with fun, enter-tainment, floral art, food, stalls and even a vintage car show.See ad on page 27 for details

Is this a vision ofstinks to come?

Conservative MP’s ‘vomit lorries’ arewrecking the peacein a ‘VM’-area village

Police rushed to Whittington after a woman was robbed on Common Lane, near Range Cottage, around 2pm, on Wednesday, September 3.

Her assailant was described as black and wearing dark clothing.

He grabbed the woman’s small black handbag and then ran off in the direction of Whittington Pri-mary School.

Witnesses should ring DC Jamie Harris, Burton CID, on 101 (in-cident 369 of September 3), or Crimestoppers, on 0800 555 111.

Common Lane attack

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The Tamworth Co-op’s boss has seen his pay soar by almost a quar-

ter while the public’s ‘divi’ seems to have shrunk.

‘VM’ readers had hoped Julian Coles would put their minds at rest over what seemed to them to be troubling financial reports.

The company’s chief executive was under attack in the press in 2013 for accepting an £11,000 increase in his pay.

Complete transparencyIn response, Mr. Coles pointed

out that his pay was controlled by a remunerations committee.

He said: “The Society oper-ates with complete transparency . . .”

But when the ‘VM’ asked him if its readers’ analysis of his company’s records was cor-rect, his spokesman, said: “The Tamworth Co-operative Society (TCS) no longer wishes to enter into dialogue with you for the purpose of publication in, ‘The Village Market’.

“This is because of previous experiences with your magazine.

“Any lack of response to this, or to any future correspondence, can never be interpreted as the society implicitly confirming, or rejecting, any points you intend to publish.”

The micronewspaper has in the past highlighted criminal and anti-social behaviour issues at Coles’ Whittington store and covered traffic problems caused by lorry drivers delivering stock.

In 2012, Mr. Coles threatened legal action against the ‘VM’s editor.

Editor barredThis, it was argued, was be-

cause the micronewspaper had not made it clear that a village resident banned from entering his co-operative’s Main Street store for raising concerns about the traffic congestion was in fact the ‘VM’s editor.

The figures Coles now declines to comment on are in his annual reports for 2010 to 2014.

From a layperson’s reading of them it would seem from the lat-est set that the chief executive has accepted another £10,000 a year, on top of last year’s contro-versial £11,000.

That seems to mean his remu-neration package has gone up by £25,000 since 2010 (+24.51%).

Yet over the same period the company’s net assets, appear

to have shrunk by £3.21 million (-21.23%).

Meanwhile the TCS’ reserves appear to have fallen by £3.222 million (-25.14 per cent).

Coles’ members also worry that, over the four-year period, the total ‘dividend’ TCS pays out seems to have fallen by £20,300 (-18.12%).

In 2011, a charitable dividend of £939 was paid to Whitting-ton’s First Responders.

TCS’ recommended dividend for a group in the village for 2014 was £671 (-28.54%).

The company’s turnover since 2010 appears to be down by £915,000 (-4.01%).

And net sales seem to have shrunk by £1.158 million (-5.51%).

The reports also appear to sug-gest there have been job losses.

Job losses?Between 2010 and 2014, it

seems that while there has been an increase of 15 full-time jobs, there has been a loss of 61 posts (-15.84%) overall.

It also looks as if the company has reduced its staff costs by £436,000 (-9.43%).

Meanwhile, it would appear that the company’s management executive has received healthy increases.

Since 2010, the figures seem to suggest that the total re-muneration package given to the five directors has risen by £46,000 (+12.92%).

Mr. Coles’ total remuneration package was £102,000, in 2010.

By 2014, it had risen to £127,000.

In 2010, it looked like the chief executive’s remuneration was the equivalent of 2.21 per cent of the company’s staff costs.

By 2014, it stood at 3.03 per cent (+0.82%).

Coles’ pay seemed to equal 28.65 per cent of executive costs, in 2010.

In the 2014 report it appeared to have risen to 31.59 per cent (+2.94%).

Tamworth’s TCS affected?Mr. Coles’ members also

wanted to know if TCS was being affected by the problems beset-ting the Manchester-based Co-operative Group, of which it is a corporate member.

The Co-operative Bank is a wholly owned subsidiary of the

Group, which last year suffered losses of £2.5 billion.

In 2013, a £1.5 billion hole was found in the bank’s books following its failed attempt to buy 632 Lloyds Bank branches.

The problem, believed to have stemmed from commercial loans made by the Britannia Building Society, which the Co-op acquired in 2009, saw the bank’s credit rat-ing reduced to junk status.

Scandal after discoveryThe Co-op Bank’s chairman

Paul Flowers added to its woes when he became embroiled in a drugs scandal.

The Group sold off its pharma-cy stores to Bestway, last July, for £249 million, in its efforts to balance the finances.

Last month it also sold the farms business it had owned for 118 years to the Welcome Trust, for £620 million.

Continued on page 24

VISIT our website www.villagemarketnews.co.uk 3

Tamworth Co-op boss Julian Coles chose not to respond to his members’ concerns

Boss’ pay soars while ‘divi’ dives - claim

CEO Julian Coles: his Whittington Co-op members are questioning why he has received handsome rewards while the annual reports seem to sug-gest the company is in decline.


‘VM’micronewspaper

the

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Delivering DOOR to DOOR in: Whittington, Fisherwick, DMS Whit-tington, Elford, Comberford, Wigginton, Hopwas, Hints, Weeford, Packington, Boley Park, Shenstone, Edingale, Harlaston, Haun-ton, Clifton Campville, Alrewas, Fradley, Streethay, Elmhurst, Curborough, Kings Bromley, Yoxall, Barton-under-Needwood.

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Editorial DirectorGareth Griffiths

AdvertisingOffice t: 01543 432341Mobile t: Karl Smith 07588 865265

Disclaimer: Every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of dates, event information and advertisements, appearing in ‘The Village Market’. However, events may be cancelled, or dates may be altered by the organisers. Village Market Micronewspapers Ltd. therefore cannot accept responsibility for the accuracy of any claims made by advertisers within the micronewspaper or upon any literature it may deliver on their behalf.

VIEW ‘VM’ ONLINEYour monthly micronewspaper can now be viewed online at:

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The new page-by-page facility brings a great new service for our rapidly growing number of readers outside our current circulation area. It also creates massive new opportuni-ties for our advertisers. Look online to find out more, or ring 01543 432341.

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Long-time detractor and vocal opponent of the ‘VM’, Michael Kinghan,

has written to the Press Complaints Commission about this, “disgraceful”, publication.

The Whittington and Fish-erwick Environment Group (WFEG) grandee and former chairman then ramped up his attack on Facebook.

And his friends were quick to join in.

Kinghan’s assault on the micronewspaper came after it ran news that had been flashed around Europe, Ameri-ca and Australia.

World newsInformation and images

were wired out showing how engineers from Minnesota Uni-versity had produced visual evidence of a wind turbine producing infrasound pulses.

Kinghan wrote to the mi-cronewspaper demanding a retraction and a, “profound apology for this disgraceful misrepresentation”.

He said it was, “the most bla-tant distortion of scientific re-search,” he had ever come across.

His view seems to be that wind turbines do not emit

harmful infrasound.But the leader of the Min-

nesota team on whose behalf he appeared to be so angry seems less certain.

Professor Jiarong Hong, said: “Turbines generate a wide range of sound.

“To the best of my knowl-edge, there is no conclusive evidence to show that the sounds generated by wind tur-bines are harmful to people.”

That also means there is no conclusive evidence to suggest they are not harmful either.

‘Sound’, is just a vibration caused by changes in air pres-sure.

It can be made by anything from vocal chords to twanging a ruler on a school desk.

Independent research indi-cates that pressure changes caused by wind turbines are powerful enough to kill bats.

So-called ‘barotrauma’ col-lapses their lungs if they fly too close to moving blades.

Visible proofIn August, the ‘VM’ ran a

still from a film shot by Prof. Hong’s team showing huge turbine blades rotating in a blizzard lit by a searchlight.

It showed evidence of air pressure changes appearing as footprint-like tracks in the falling snow.

‘Infrasound’ is caused by pressure changes occurring at a rate of 20 (Hertz) times a second or less.

U.S. researchers who ana-lysed the Minnesota footage claim it proves that the turbine was emitting infrasound.

They said that with the ma-chine’s blade tips passing the tower at their lowest point at

Press watchdogFacebook flared as WFEG men

Arbiter of truth: “It is good to see ‘VM’s utter contempt for the truth so directly confirmed by the scientist concerned.” Michael Kinghan (WFEG).Mr. Kinghan is chairman of South Staffordshire Community Energy, which promotes the government’s ‘Green Deal’. People who cannot afford to fit solar panels through the ‘Deal’ have to pay subsidies to people who can through the ‘feed in tar-rif’. Many poor people now have to choose between heating and eating.

Angry response: “This really adds to the lack of credibility of vm (the ‘VM’). It’s an anti-soci-ety, vitriolic and vile publication. This and the (its) constant bash-ing of parish councillors who give up there (their) own free time to make our communities a better place (places) makes it (the ‘VM’) a disgrace.” Julian Floyd (WFEG).Mr. Floyd is a senior commercial manager with, Lend Lease. Its projects include the U.S. Rose Hill solar array, covering 10.86 acres of farmland. Its Birming-ham schools projects incorpo-rated, “wind turbines”.

A cracking good read: “I do love a good academic smack-down.” Alison Rawlinson.

Sound sleuth: analysts claimedthe Minnesota footage was evi-dence of infrasound emissions.

a rate of 0.75 per second - the pulsing pressure change meant that sound was being emitted at an infrasonic, 0.75 Hz.

They also said that the mecha-nism would produce ‘harmonic’ sounds relative to 0.75 Hz, at 1.5 Hz, 2.25Hz and so on up to 7.5hz.

All these emissions, they point-ed out, were in the infrasound range (0 Hz to 20 Hz).

And all of these sounds were at frequencies too low for humans to hear.

Industry wrongProf. Alec Salt, of the Depart-

ment of Otolaryngology (ear, nose, and throat) at the Washing-ton University School of Medicine, said: “For years people have been told infrasound you cannot hear cannot affect you.”

“This is completely wrong. The inner ear does respond to infra-sound at levels that are not heard.

“People living near turbines are being put at risk by infrasound effects on the body that no one presently understands.

“Until a scientific understanding of this issue is established we should not be dismissing these effects.

“We should be erring on the side of caution.”

Travels milesInfrasound is unique among

sound frequencies in being able to carry for vast distances.

This is because its energy is not readily absorbed by the medium it is travelling through, be it solid, liquid or gas.

As light travels through glass, infrasound can travel through walls and the human body.

Even though at below 16 Hertz people cannot hear it, it can still be felt.

Ear defenders worn in noisy environments are useless against these low-frequency emissions.

Internationally renowned American physician, Dr. Nina Pierpoint, wrote a definitive peer reviewed publication on what she coined as, ‘wind turbine syn-drome’, in 2009.

Seasick sensationsShe described how infrasound

‘dys-regulated’ organs in the in-ner-ear that control balance, po-sition and spatial awareness.

“It was”, she said, “as if suffer-ers were experiencing sea-sick-ness, along with several related pathologies.”

Dr. Pierpoint added that the unheard ‘noise’ caused, “panic attacks, alarm, irritability, tachy-rhythmia (raised pulse rate), tin-nitus (buzzing in the ear), nausea,

and problems with concentration and memory.”

Modern turbines produce their peak ‘sound’ power output in the infrasonic (1 Hz to 10 Hz) range people cannot hear, she added.

Since her book was published, Dr. Pierpoint has been contacted by ‘syndrome’ sufferers from across the world, all reporting the same symptoms.

But she stressed that not eve-ryone living near a turbine would be affected.

She explained: “I discovered that people with motion sensitiv-ity, migraine disorder and inner-ear damage were at a statistically high risk.”

So too, she added, were people above the age of 50 and autistic children and adults.

Since 2009, Dr. Pierpoint has suffered a storm of vicious attacks in the media from people trying to discredit her work.

He who pays the piperIn seems that people’s belief

in whether or not turbines emit harmful infrasound is split be-tween those a with vested interest in building them and those whose lives are being wrecked by them.

Dr. Jiarong Hong’s university de-partment is part of Eolos, a Minne-sota-based wind energy consorti-um of researchers and businesses involved in the turbine industry.

His work is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, which is working towards the proliferation of on-shore wind farms.

Dr. Hong’s stated goal is the long-term expansion of wind en-ergy production.


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complaintlashed out at the ‘VM’

Paediatrician: Dr. Nina Pierpoint has been targeted by political and big business interests who would prefer she kept quiet about the turbines’ potential for harm.

A Clifton Campville farm-er may soon be com-pelled to reopen a trail

he blocked off around three years ago.

Local horse owners have been using the track without problems for at least 70 years.

But when fundraisers on a charity ride asked Stephen Bos-tock to unlock a steel gate he had installed he refused and stopped them in their tracks.

The ‘green lane’ he had sealed off connected a bridleway that ran across his farm, from Clift-on to Syerscote Lane, south of Haunton.

It is understood that he put the barrier up soon after he had bought the land.

Local resident John Bainbridge appealed to a meeting of Clift-on’s parish council for help in getting the route reopened.

Mr. Bostock, whose wife, Pam, is one of the councillors, alleg-edly told the members: “I’ve one bridleway on my land and I’m not going to have another.”

In fact, he is not able to pre-vent people riding along the existing bridleway that runs to within a few hundred yards of Syerscote Lane.

And now Staffordshire County Council (SCC) has told the ‘VM’ that he may soon have to let rid-ers use the green lane too.

Mr. Bainbridge has been work-ing on getting the track legally

recognised as a public right of way for more than a year.

An SCC spokesperson said: “There is very good historic evidence to suggest that it (Mr. Bainbridge’s application) should succeed.

“If the application is success-ful it will add a useful link to the existing network in the area.

“We have agreed that it satis-fies the priority criteria for deter-mining these applications.

“We are hoping to submit a report to the countryside and rights of way panel, in Decem-ber.”

If the green lane becomes an officially designated bridleway, it will be an eagle of a feather in the cap of Mr. Bainbridge and

the 16 local horse riders who submitted witness statements in support of the application.

The attempt to have the route included on the county’s ‘defini-tive map’ of rights of way began 15 years ago.

Applications are dealt with in order of priority.

In 2012, Mr. Bainbridge was amazed to discover that after 13 years the application was still only 125th in the queue.

And he was appalled to learn earlier this year that it had gone down to 130th.

He also found out that SCC only had one solicitor working part time on rights of way ap-plications.

And it seemed he had been on

long-term sick leave for the pre-vious two years.

Then the chairman of SCC’s countryside rights of way pan-el, Councillor David Smith, told him: “I would like to say that this application is about to be dealt with but I can’t.”

But now it seems as if the Mease Valley campaign group’s tenacity might pay off.

Mr. Bostock did not reply to the ‘VM’s questions about the issue.

News about another extraordi-nary right of issue in the Mease Valley is much less encouraging.

‘VM’ readers have been aston-ished that it took SCC 21 years to reply to an application submitted by Clifton Campville with Thorpe Constantine Parish Council.

The councillors had wanted a trail running from Haunton to the Derbyshire border designated along its whole length as a bri-dleway.

It seems a section of the route, called Mease Lane, is only listed as a footpath.

That appears to make it the only footpath in Britain with a 30mph speed limit.

SCC’s officers told the ‘VM’ they were not hopeful that the councillors’ application would succeed.

A spokesperson said the par-ish authority had not challenged a recommendation that their ap-plication be rejected.



Bridleway campaigners could soon be toasting their victoryClifton farmer looks set to lose his fightto keep his gate shut and horse riders out

Route currently closed: if Clifton Campville residents win they will succeed in reopening to everyone some of the most beautiful parts of Mease Valley. (inset)Determined campaigner: John Bainbridge has campaigned for more than a year.

The first thing M i c h a e l a Elaine Hutch-

ings did when £52K appeared in her ac-count was go on a spending spree.

Michael Wilcox’s Li-chfield District Coun-cil (LDC) should have sent her just £306.06.

Wilcox silentThe authority’s

leader refused to say how or why the other £51,821.34 found its way to her bank.

In July, the belea-guered councillor was asking the public which services they would like to see slashed so he could save £2.4 million.

This latest debacle will not have helped matters.

Luckily, Staffordshire Po-lice reacted quickly when they learned what had happened.

Hutchings was arrested and charged with dishonestly retain-ing a wrongful credit.

ProsecutionShe was later sentenced to a

12-month supervision order and 150 hours of unpaid work.

But before the police man-aged to catch up with her she had already spent nearly £5,000 on designer clothes and acces-sories.

She had also given her family £1,000.

And, ironically, she had used £1,093.55 of the cash to pay off her outstanding court fines.

Hutchings also put £40,000 of the money into a new savings account.

By mid-August, the police had managed to recover £46,108.60 of the cash.

Paid off finesThat included the council tax-

payers’ money Hutchings used to pay her fines, which were af-terwards reinstated.

Investigators also succeeded in recovering all but two of the luxury items she bought.

Their haul included every-thing from Gucci flip flops, Dior sunglasses and Armani jeans, to Ralph Lauren underwear, a Crespi polo shirt and Louis Vuit-ton bag.

The goods were sold on Ebay to recoup some of the council taxpayers’ losses.

But the now sec-ond hand items only raised £1,788.28, out of which the auction fee will have to be de-ducted.

That means Wilcox’s council is currently down around £4,000.

Hutchings has al-ready faced a ‘confisca-tion hearing’ under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.

The judge issued a ‘confiscation order’ in the sum of £51,006.55.

That is the amount the court deemed to be

recoverable.Payment deadline

Under the order, Hutchings must pay it back by next De-cember 24.

If she does not she may find herself in jail.

But she could avoid this de-fault prison sentence if she ap-plies to the High Court for a ‘cer-tificate of inadequacy’.

These documents are issued when a defendant can show that there is nothing more that can be confiscated.

The court must then reduce the amount sought by the origi-nal ‘confiscation order’.

Voters foot the billThe drawback is that it will be

the council taxpayers who pay the penalty for this cumbersome and expensive process.

‘VM’-area residents will al-ready have had to pay many thousands of pounds in court, police and LDC time pursuing Hutchings’ case.

The local authority’s accounts are in crisis with many essential services under threat.

Wilcox and his council have already come under fire for prof-ligate waste.

They have also been attacked for their creaking IT systems and loss of the public’s data.

Explanation owedSome people may feel that

LDC’s secretive leader owes them an explanation as to how £51,821.34 of their money was put into Hutchings’ account and an apology for what happened.

Wilcox has an official policy of refusing to answer ‘VM’ press in-quiries submitted to LDC on its readers’ behalf.


Oops!: a £52K wind-fall proved too much for a woman with a desire for expensive things to resist. But how was it that she came to be tempted? Michael Wilcox was in no mood to explain!

‘Stum’ on cock-upLeader will not say how his chaotic council lost £thousands of your cash

8 To BOOK an advert just ring 01543 432341 Or email [email protected]

Elford up in arms over ‘vomit lorries’Tory MP’s wagons came spewing out foul smelling filth that left people wretching

Not since TV’s fictitious Tory Alan B’astard tried to bury Argentinian nu-

clear waste down a coal mine has a Conservative politician made himself so unpopular.

People in Elford are terrified that Andrew Bridgen is bent on stinking out their village.

For years the MP for North West Leicestershire has been making life miserable for people in Measham.

Gut-wrenchingThe deathly fumes coming from

his vegetable processing plant have drenched the community in a gut-wrenching stench.

And when one of Bridgen’s huge HGVs came to Elford the first thing it did was spew a sty-gian, pavement-to-pavement, ex-crement-like slick of vile smelling horror outside the village hall.

Not content with their curtain raiser, Bridgen’s A B Produce PLC then dispatched dozens of HGVs to the quiet village as families were out enjoying their annual scarecrow festival.

Residents contacted the ‘VM’ complaining bitterly of a stink of “vomit” seeping into their homes like a World War I gas attack.

Parents were horrified at doz-ens of Andrew Bridgen MP’s huge wagons thundering along their narrow village lanes to dump their reeking cargoes on land the Tory Member of Parliament’s broth-er rents from Birmingham City Council.

Putrid hazeThe stomach-turning ordure

Andrew Bridgen’s ‘vomit lorries’ left behind created a putrid haze villagers claim hung in the air around their homes for days.

One resident told the ‘VM’: “You couldn’t just smell it, you could taste it.”

Campaigners in Measham say they have been fighting Andrew Bridgen and his disgusting stink for so long they fear they might never be rid of it, or him.

Their parish councillor Michael Williams said that if the MP, who last year tried to oust PM David Cameron, is not kicked out at the next election they will be stuck with his foul smell for another five years.

Grovelling U-turnBridgen’s chances of political

survival improved when he did a grovelling U-turn from Tory traitor to Cameron-coat-tail-clinger.

And now the residents of Elford fear what the Tories’ ‘vomit lorry’ MP has in mind for them.

Andrew Bridgen’s brother and fellow director wants permission to put a three million-litre, ‘lagoon’, on land off Brickhouse Lane.

The stink the brothers create at Measham has been put down to rotting filth in the lagoon and ir-rigation system they have there.

Failed promiseRepeated assurances that the

nuisance would be fixed have so far all come to nothing.

On September 1, Lichfield Dis-trict Council’s planning committee deferred its decision on allowing the Elford lagoon to go ahead.

Three councillors voted against the motion, seemingly be-cause they felt it should have been kicked out right there and then.

GrinningThe Tory

MP’s brother, Paul Bridgen, emerged from the meeting grinning broadly and winking at the villagers they have so deeply offended.

Who will have the last laugh is yet to be seen.

But if Tory MP Andrew Bridgen

thinks Elford is a pushover he may yet be in for a surprise.

Parish council chairman Richard Wain’s strong argument against the lagoon received universal sup-port from the planners.

One district councillor felt the Bridgens’ operation would breach the residents’ human rights.

Road blockAn incident the day after the

planning meeting proved just how totally unacceptable Elford’s

Brickhouse Lane is as an HGV ac-cess route.

Villager Ben Edwards had in-nocently parked his car on the side of the road.

FertiliserA vast ar-

ticulated lorry, whose driver told the ‘VM’ he was hauling ‘centrate’ ferti-liser for A B Pro-

duce, could not get by.When the police arrived it was

noticed that the wagon’s number plate could not be read and the

vehicle was spilling its cargo on the road.

The wagon was so huge there was hardly any room on either side for pedestrians to get past.

Tommy Gilbert (10), who at-tends the village primary school, had to squeeze his bike between a bollard and the HGV to force his way through.

Leaking cargoHe also had to brush past the

pipes from which the foul-smelling load was leaking.

Had he been caught at the same spot on the blind bend while the HGV was moving he could have been in real difficulties.

While a car could have got by Mr. Edwards’ four-by-four, the vast lorry could not.

So it seems that if LDC allows the ‘lagoon’ to go ahead it will have to ban cars from parking in Brickhouse Lane.

Not even a baby buggyA film of a Bridgen ‘vomit lorry’

travelling down the lane shows that the HGV would not even have been able to get past something as small as a baby buggy.

Elford residents are puzzled as to why an already unpopular Tory MP in a marginal seat would want to make himself even more un-popular with an election looming.

Neither he, nor his constituency office, would respond to the ‘VM’s inquiries.

His brother, Paul, would not an-swer the publication’s questions.

But in a letter, he said: “I am the tenant of Home Farm (Elford).

“Land improvement activities have been undertaken on the farm.

“The material used has been imported to site where it was ap-plied to the land and ploughed in to minimise any odour impact.

“I would assure residents of Elford that this activity was con-ducted under deployments held from the relevant regulatory body and monitored by them.”

Stink unbearableVillager Stan Turner told the

‘VM’: “We couldn’t sleep. It was stiflingly hot but we didn’t dare open a window.

“The stink coming in was abso-lutely terrible. You felt sick.”

Between June 7, 2013, and May 9, 2014, A B Produce appar-ently paid the Tories’ ‘vomit lorry’ MP, Andrew Bridgen, £101,049 for a total of just 156 hours work at a rate of £647.75 an hour (or £53.98 per minute).

Measham campaigners fight-ing to rid their nostrils of his stink have vowed to stand shoulder to shoulder with the people of Elford.

The brilliant late and lamented Rik Mayall played uber-Thatcherite MP Alan B’stard for laughs: no one in Elford is remotely amused by Cameron-coat-tail-clinger Andrew Bridgen MP. His brother wants permission to put millions of litres of their noxious mate-rial in a storage ‘lagoon’ on the edge of the village. The Bridgens’ ‘lagoons’ in Measham have had the residents up in arms for years over the foul stench.

Elford’s very own B’stard: (right) reviled Tory MP Andrew Bridgen sought praise via the press for helping at Heather’s scarecrow festival then let his stinking HGVs ruin Elford’s event.

Skimming the bollards: (above) even though this ‘vomit lorry’ was not as big as the huge articulated wagons Tory MP Bridgen uses it still had to brush the bollards on the off-side to get around the blind bend in Brickhouse Lane. There was no room left at all for any pedestrians.

Video evidence: (below) the grainy footage clearly shows that the ‘vomit lorry’ could not even have passed something as small as a wheelchair, or baby buggy, as it thundered down Brickhouse Lane. Just feet from where the wagon was shot, excited children emerge from the popular nearby playground. At the time of go-ing to print dozens of Tory MP Bridgen’s wagons were rumbling along the narrow lane every day.


Giant artic: (above) a parked car halted MP Andrew Bridgen’s ‘vomit lorries’. Vil-lagers saw the wagon’s unreadable num-ber plate and leaking cargo and asked the police to check the driver’s tachograph.In a squeeze: (right) Ten-year-old Tommy Gilbert discovered that when the huge trucks sweep around the blind bend on Brickhouse Lane pedestrians have nowhere to run to. The youngster had to force his way between a bollard and the HGV. He also had to brush past pipes leaking a foul-smelling liquid.The driver told the ‘VM’ he was hauling “centrate” fertiliser for A B Produce PLC. An Environment Agency spokesman insisted it was not, ‘centrate’. The agency also told villagers the Bridgens had stopped sending trucks to Elford and then dozens more turned up.

10

SCC said the reason the coun-cillors’ application might fail was because no one on the Derbyshire side of the border had called for their section of the route to be up-graded to a bridleway.

Fruitless causeThis, it was explained, meant

that even if SCC did designate the Staffordshire section as a bridle-way, it would simply become an unhelpful cul-de-sac.

The issue is now due to go be-fore the rights of way panel, in October.

Proud record holdersWin or lose, Clifton Campville’s

parish councillors can hold their heads up and be immensely proud.

Their 21 year campaign to get the county council bureaucrats to write the word, “bridleway”, on the definitive rights of way map is the longest on record.

The way could soon be clear: Clifton landowner Stephen Bostock said he did not want people riding along the ‘green lane’ local horse riders have used for at least the last 70 years. If it is officially marked as a bridleway he will have no choice in the matter.

Clifton bridleway campaign - from page 7



The motives of Michael King-han’s Whittington and Fisherwick Environment Group (WFEG) have also come into question.

The community came out in force last September to discuss local farmer Robert Gray’s pro-posal to site a vast wind turbine on green belt land, at Hademore.

Village resident Jean Jackson seemed to insult members of the audience before dismissing out of hand their concerns.

Residents stunnedShe was then met with open-

mouthed disbelief when she claimed, “everyone”, in the Neth-erlands liked wind turbines.

What Ms. Jackson did not re-veal was that she was a WFEG member with a financial interest in the so-called, ‘green energy’, industry.

WFEG, had earlier faced criti-cism for allegedly working with local parish councillors to sup-press public debate about Mr. Gray’s planning application.

Three parish councils in the area around Whittington objected to Lichfield District Council’s plan-ners about the scheme.

Despite huge local opposition to the plans, Whittington’s coun-cillors made no objection at all.

But they did give WFEG hun-dreds of pounds of taxpayers money.

There was much anger when

the group sent a letter to every home in the parish slamming people with concerns about Gray’s machine as, “scaremon-gers”.

WFEG claimed the farmer’s proposal was somehow, “very dif-ferent”, from other turbine plans.

It also promoted a cash in-ducement Gray offered on condi-tion he got planning consent.

But WFEG said nothing about the massive subsidies consumers would be forced to pay the farmer for electricity he would generate for his own use.

The group was accused of propa-gandising for the business interests of one man against the interests of the community.

Readers told the ‘VM’ that WFEG’s pro-Gray circu-lar been the, “last straw” - the group had lost any claim it may once have had to impartial objectivity.

Double standards, claimMichael Kinghan also came in

for strong criticism.He was claimed to have been

fighting a green field develop-ment near his property while pro-moting Gray’s green belt plans, which would badly affect other residents and their property.

Last month the ‘VM’ warned of a potential threat to rich land-owners queuing up to cash in on turbine subsidies.

Government and industry have proved themselves masters of the unforeseen consequence.

Human tragediesThe stories of tobacco, tha-

lidomide, DDT and variant CJD are among a long list of catastro-phes that started with critics be-ing witch-hunted and supporters spending millions claiming there were no problems.

But in 1998, several major to-bacco companies were forced into an agreement with 46 U.S. State At-torneys General to pay $200 billion over 25 years to cover the cost of the human tragedy they had caused.

Now a Danish businessman is set

to mount a multi-million pound legal action against those respon-sible for a windfarm.

Boye Jensen’s Lammefjordens Perennials plant nursery had sales of £1.67 million a year.

Established 43 years ago and employing 15 people, it was thriving until three huge turbines were sited within 700 metres of his property.

Mr. Boye’s problems coincided with claims of a causal link being established between wind tur-bines and disease in animals.

Jutland mink breeder, Kaj Bank Olesen, reported that in just one month 1,600 animals had been born either dead or deformed.

Meanwhile, his adult mink had become fiercely aggressive and were killing each other.

Mr. Olesen claimed the altered behaviour coincided with particu-lar wind directions.

Veterinarians were stumped. The only change in local condi-tions they could find that they could not rule out as a potential culprit was the installation of four wind turbines 328 metres away from the mink farm.

Turbine sicknessMr. Boye first noticed problems

when his staff began suffering continual headaches.

Then his female workers start-ed reporting unusual bleeding and problems with their men-strual cycles.

When the Jutland incident reached the national press, Mr. Boye’s staff began quitting.

His lawyers are consider-ing claims for damages against the turbine owners, Vattenfal, and the Municipality of Holbaek, which approved the installation.

If he wins it will send shock waves around the world.

From page 5

Boye Jensen: no matter what the truth is about turbines, they have destroyed his life’s work.


Ninety people are call-ing for children’s treasure hunts to be

barred from Whittington’s church yard.

Their protest came after a grieving mother was disturbed while tending her son’s grave.

It was 24 years ago that the 19-year-old hero laid down his life to save a young child.

No thought for himselfMatthew Larkins did not hesi-

tate even for a second in hurl-ing himself into the surf, off the beach at St. Ives.

He only thought was to save an eight-year-old boy drowning in a heavy sea.

He just managed to pass the lad to a rescuer reaching out to him from rocks nearby.

Safety was a finger tip away for Matthew too but, exhausted, he slipped back into the surf and was lost.

His heroism was commemo-rated by a gallantry award from the Royal Humane Society.

And now his loss is mourned anew every week by his moth-er, Thelma, when she visits his

grave at St. Giles Church.She spends her time care-

fully tending the site.It allows her a quiet mo-

ment to reflect on the overwhelming love she still feels for her son.

She says that hers is a loss whose sting will never dimin-ish.

But last Easter her contemplation was disturbed when children came into the graveyard in search of tokens in an egg hunt.

Mrs. Larkins felt that allowing the youngsters to run among the headstones was wrong.

Campaign was formedDozens of other people agreed

with her and signed her petition.They said; “We feel that a

churchyard is a sacred place and should not be trivialised by allowing children to run across graves during an Easter egg hunt.

One protestor said it had been

disrespectful to allow young-sters to play in a sacred

area - Bit End field would be a better

venue.Anoth-

er said more re-

spect should be shown to

grieving fami-lies.Mrs. Larkins’ view

that children should never be allowed to

play anywhere in the graveyard is immovable.

Opposing viewReverend Fiona Haskett

disagrees, saying they should be allowed in - although they should only use the old part of the cemetery.

And yet both women agree on the vicar’s objectives.

Rev. Haskett, said: “We had a child who was frightened to go into the graveyard.

“Allowing her into the cem-etery helped demystify if for her.

“She came to understand that is was a place for loving remem-

brance and fond memories, not fear.

“We would never allow young-sters to hunt Easter eggs in the new part of the cemetery.

“I am terribly sorry that Mrs. Larkins was upset.

Great sacrifice“Her loss was appalling. Mat-

thew was a fine and brave young man of whom any mother would have been immensely proud.

“I hope that the love and at-tention our team of volunteers put into caring for the area around where her son is buried reassures her of our dedication to and respect for, his memory.”

Mrs. Larkins said Rev. Haskett was a, “lovely and caring per-son.”

She fully supported the vicar’s efforts to help young people understand and overcome their fears of the unknown.

The bereaved mother said she had absolutely no wish to bar children from the graveyard, or stop them having fun.

But Mrs. Larkins could not ac-cept that St. Giles’ cemetery was a suitable place to play games.

Dozens call for more respect in graveyardQuestion over Easter games is fuelled by love on both sides

15VISIT our website www.villagemarketnews.co.uk

18 VISIT our website www.villagemarketnews.co.uk

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british food fortnight 20 sept - 5 oct ... british food fortnight 20 sept - 5 octbritish food fortnight 20 sept - 5 oct ... british food fortnight 20 sept - 5 oct ... british food fortnight 20 sept - 5 oct

Food, glorious BRITISH food!

Black pudding makes a great stuff-ing which goes extremely well with pheasant, and other game.

ingREdiEnTS: (serves 4)2 pheasants black pudding and apples for the stuffingplenty of herbs and spices for the pheasanta few spoonfuls of butter

METHOD:For the stuffing you should break up the

black pudding and mix it with the roughly chopped apples and a little bit of butter.

Stuff the cavities of the birds full of the mixture and close up the legs to keep it in. Smear generous spoonfuls of butter in between the skin of the pheasant and the breasts to keep them moist whilst cooking. Cover the skin in your favourite seasoning, but always plenty of salt!

Chuck a few onions and some garlic into the roasting pan to help with the gravy at the end.

Blast the pheasants at a high temperature for five minutes (220oC) and then turning the oven down to 170oC for 20 minutes. This way the skin crisps up and keeps the most of the juice in the breasts.

Once done take the birds out the oven and leave to rest for at least 15 minutes. This allows the meat to cool down and relax making it a far nicer meal.

Use the juices that manage to escape from the birds in the gravy and serve with some smashed potatoes, roast carrots and parsnips and peas (see picture above).

Roast Pheasantwith Black Pudding and Apple Stuffing(from www.gametoeat.co.uk)

BRiTiSh Food FoRTnighT spans the ancient English festival of Michaelmas, celebrated on September 29.

It was traditionally said that harvest should be complete by Michaelmas, mark-ing of the end of the productive season and the start of a new farming year.

Traditionally, in the British Isles, a well fattened goose, fed on the stubble from the fields after the harvest, is eaten.

But this is also the season for game when pheasant, partridge and pigeon, rabbit and venison are in plentiful supply at local butchers.

For anyone concerned about

healthy eating, game is a great option offering lean, well-flavoured meat. For those concerned about animal production methods, there’s nothing more free-range to be had.

time to celebrate home-grown produce & wonderful wild food


this time of year, perhaps more than any other, is when people look for wild food in the hedgerows, fields and woods.

Although, compared to our European cousins, we have lost so much knowledge and confidence about what wild fruit, fur or fungi is good to eat, it is still fairly common to see families out picking blackberries or sloes.

Blackberries are one of nature’s most abundant free foods. In the World War I, now marking its centenary, children were given time off school to pick the fruit. The blackberries were then pressed for the juice that was sent to soldiers overseas to help maintain their physical and mental health.

Blackberries are still just as highly prized as a fruit today — they’re low in calories and fat and are perfect for eating if you’re on a diet, if you like sweet/sour foods or if you just fancy something tasty and nutritious.

Just be sure to pick your blackberries before October 10 (Old Mich-aelmas Day). It is said that on this day, when Lucifer was expelled from Heaven, he fell from the sky, straight onto a blackberry bush. So he cursed the fruit, spat and stamped on them and made them unfit for eat.

Cobbler is one of the most warming and deli-cious puddings you could ever make - and the pops of slightly sour blackberry and sweet apple make it even better. Serve with warm custard or double cream.

ingreDients: (serves 6)700g blackberries700g peeled, cored and chopped cooking apples6 tbsp. caster sugar5 tbsp. plain flour1 tbsp. melted butter150g plain flour2 tsp. baking powder4 tbsp. butter3 tbsp. caster sugar120ml buttermilk

methoD:Toss together the blackber-

ries, apples, 6 tbsp. caster sugar, 5 tbsp. plain flour and 1 tbsp. melted butter. Sprinkle over the bottom of a 23x23cm baking dish.

Rub together 150g plain flour, 2 tsp. baking powder, 2 tbsp. butter and 3 tbsp. caster sugar until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in the but-termilk until combined, then drop by the spoonful on top of the fruit.

Bake the cobbler in a 190C oven for 30-40 minutes until the topping is golden and risen and the fruit soft.

Apple and blackberry is a clas-sic combination - it makes a brilliant pie filling too.

Blackberry and Apple Cobbler (from www.blackberryrecipes.co.uk)

The colour purple...purple-stained fingers, snagged clothes, thorn-pricked flesh - it

must be blackberry time!

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Prettily presented: Bake 180’s cream teas.

LocaL food markets have got to be the best way of sourcing truLy LocaL and fresh food.

For small-scale farmers and growers, local markets are a vital way of selling direct to the public. For all we consumers, the markets offer unparalleled access to an amazing range of lovingly grown and produced food.

Raised and grown with careWhere else will you find fruit and veg picked that morning? Where

else can you talk to the person that reared the animals, and then carefully turned their meat into Sunday roasts, sausages and ba-con. You will be buying from peo-ple who care passionately about the food they produce and sell.

Try itGive your local market a try -

you never know what amazing things you will find!

Lichfield - farmers market, in Market Square, monthly on the first Thursday.

Middleton Hall - food and craft market, off the A4091, south of Tamworth, monthly on the last Sunday.

Whittington - local food mar-ket, at the Bell Inn, Main Street, monthly on the third Saturday.

The pick of the cropapples & pears, tomatoes & po-tatoes, squash & sweetcorn- lots of home-grown tastiness

is there anything more brit-ish than the LeisureLy rituaL ofafternoon tea?

Sarah Wall only opened her Bake 180 coffee shop, at Middleton Hall Court-yard, in the summer, but her after-noon teas already have a dedicated following.

With scones, cake, or tiffin to accom-pany your tea or coffee it’s no wonder. For those without a sweet tooth, she even offers a Gentlemen’s Tea. Not just for men, it offers pork pie, quiche, chutney, cheese (from neighbour-ing shop The Cheese and Ale Barn) amongst other goodies.

Time for tea Not just for men:the Gentlemen’s Tea.

‘VM’- a r e a Ford mo-tor busi-

ness boss Brian Carruthers feels driven to help others.

Whittington’s Community First Responders benefitted hugely through his support and provision of the car they used to attend medical emergencies.

This time the beneficiary is Lich-field Cathedral.

PartnershipMr. Carruthers and his team from

the Tempest Ford dealership have set their sat-navs on steering the church around its last lap toward raising £3.7 million.

Cathedral organisers still need to bring in another £60,000 if they are to com-plete their’ East End Ap-peal.”

The cherry on top of the project’s cake will be the reinstallation of a stunning piece of medieval art.

Known as the, Herkenrode Glass, it was brought to England and sold to the cathedral at cost by the intel-lectual, Brooke Boothby.

The linguist, poet and landowner bought the painted glass piece in 1801.

The opportunity arose after its original home, Herkenrode Abbey, in modern day Belgium, was dissolved during the Napoleonic Wars.

Other work achieved through the East End Appeal has included the restoration of the north and south choir aisles and the restoration of the Lady Chapel’s external stone-work.

Stunning artworkThe magnificent 16th Century

Herkenrode Renaissance glass work is due to return to the cathedral af-ter its restoration, in 2015.

Brian Carruthers also did a bit redecorating when he announced Tempest’s aim to help the church with its funding.

He turned up in Cathedral Close with a Ford Kuga in a special livery to mark the occasion.

And not only did the dealership managing director offer his team’s pledge to help bring in the final £600,00 for the appeal, he offered a great deal on servicing too.

Mr. Carruthers, said that once the East End Appeal has hit its target Tempest wanted to help with the ca-thedral’s ongoing maintenance.

For every minute the building is kept open it costs the church au-thorities £5.50.

While they do an extraordinary job in promoting the only

three-spired medieval cathedral in England, having someone with the motor boss’ experience on board is bound to help.

Keen to acceptDean of Lichfield, The Very Rev-

erend Adrian Dorber said: “We are truly grateful to Brian Carruthers and the team at Tempest Ford.”

The churchman looked forward to their partnership developing in the

years yet to come.Value added

It is also a partnership that looks set to benefit Lichfield and the ‘VM’ area too.

First and foremost, the cathedral is a place for Christian worship.

But it is also a huge draw for tour-ists that brings both piety and pros-perity to the county from across the world to the benefit of all.


Towering presence: Lichfield’s ec-clesiastical centre piece stands 76.8 metres at its highest point.

‘Rev’-ing up: (left) The Very Rev. Adrian Dorber was delighted to acceptBrian Carruthers’help and supportin completingthe fund raising for the ‘East EndAppeal’ and inpromising tohelp withLichfieldCathedral’s maintenance. Tempests’ MDneeded no prompting.He knows well the building’s inner-beauty and majesty and why it is of paramount importance to secure itsfuture for coming generations.

Loads of ‘vroom’ at cathedralFord team slip into gear with 60,000 left on the clock

Flemish masterpiece: (above right) the Herkenrode Glass dates back to the 1530s. It is due to be reinstalled in Lichfield Cathedral in 2015 to once again become one of artefacts and artworks contained in the church that draw visitors to the city from all over the world.

Indefatigable Whittingto-nian Rebecca Taroni had already been to ‘Hell’ and

back . . . three times.Then she ran a marathon just

to prove she could.So when it came to a 60-mile

spin on her new bicycle it did not seem like a big deal.

Especially since the St. Giles Hospice Cycle Ride 2014, due to be held on September 14, was in aid of the magnificent work the ‘VM’-area-based charity does.

Yet Rebecca quickly found out there was more to be learned and far more to be had out of cycling than she ever imagined.

The 37-year-old’s first brush with a white-knuckle endurance event was the infamous Midlands ‘Hellrun’, in 2011.

What was I thinking?The 12-mile cross-country,

obstacle and torture race is to athletics what Ghenghis Khan was to liberalism - it is an event for the madly courageous and the hard-of-thinking.

But even that did not stop Re-becca taking part in two more ‘Hellruns’.

She said: “I couldn’t not take part in the first one.

“There was a place booked and paid for and going begging.

“I simply couldn’t bear to see the money wasted.

“It was absolutely horrible. I had done no training for it at all.”

She finished even so and went on to compete in the events in Delamere Forest, Cheshire, and Longmoor Military Camp, Hamp-shire as well.

Huge improvementsHer performance got better

and better each time.But she said: “I got involved

in the first one without thinking it through.

“I was conned into doing the second ‘Hellrun’.

“I couldn’t resist doing the last one because I wanted to collect the full set - and nor could I wait for it all to end!”

Now people living in Whitting-ton owe Rebecca a huge debt of gratitude.

Her ‘Hellrunning’ brought in a

total of £1,600 to buy defibrilla-tor kits, which have been strate-gically placed around the village.

No one in the community is more than a couple of minutes away from one of the life-saving devices.

The scheme’s organiser Frank Bartlett and his team are busy training as many people as possible to use the kits.

Their aim is to make Whit-tington the safest place in Europe to have a heart at-tack.

Got to keep goingAfter returning from

‘Hell’, Rebecca moved on to her next challenge.

“By the time I had a go at a marathon I was already going on ten-mile runs,” she said.

“I pushed that up to 21 miles in the eight weeks be-fore the 26-mile event.

“I had real problems go-ing through the pain barrier in training.

“But I felt fine on the run it-self and managed to do it in 4hrs 18mins 15secs.”

Rebecca said that after every-thing else she had tried, cycling was a complete revelation.

“It’s the perfect form of exer-cise,” she explained.

“You don’t suffer the impacts you get in road running and its a massively social sport.

Home from home“I went to Tamworth’s RM Cy-

cling Club for training and a lot of really good advice.

“They welcome everyone from complete beginners to elite road racers. It’s a must if you want fitness, friends and fun.

“My only mishap has been to forget my brand new cycling shoes were firmly clipped onto my brand new pedals.

“I came to a halt and found myself staring at the clouds.

“Still, I’ve had four weeks practice and I think I’m ready to do 60 miles.”

Rebecca is determined to raise as much money for St. Giles as she possibly can. People can help her by going to: www.just-giving.com/rebeccataroni.

Impossible to stop:Rebecca Taroni will be among the starters atthe St. Giles Hospice Cycle Ride 2104, on

Sunday, September 14. Detailsof the event can be found at:

www.stgileshospice.com- search for ‘cycle ride’.

The Tamworth-basedRM Cycling Club can be

found on the internet at:www.rmcycling.co.uk

The club founded in 2010caters for everyone, no

matter what their age or cycling experience.

Its goal is to deliverhelp, advice and

friendshipvia the superb

sport of cycling.


Whittington’s fundraisingphenomenon is off - again!Four weeks practice was all that Rebecca reckoned she needed to take on a monster 60-mile ride for her local charity

It was a graveyard smashLeadership, generosity

and hard work had their reward when a new sec-

tion of Whittington’s cemetery was consecrated.

Whittington’s extraordinary vicar Reverend Fiona Haskett provided the inspiration that got things moving.

Villager Roy Baxter was fol-lowing a wonderful family tradi-

tion when he gave a plot of land to St. Giles Church big enough for around 180 more graves.

Resident Harry Wiggins spent hours and hours working hard to turn the scrap he gathered into cash to pay for the cast iron rail-ings that go around it.

Bishop of Wolverhampton The Right Reverend Clive Gregory was delighted to officiate.

The central group: (left) Archdeacon of Lichfield The Ven. Simon Baker, Roy Bax-ter, The Rt. Rev. Clive Gregory, Harry Wiggins, Rev. Fiona Haskett.

24

A breathtaking moth seen in broad daylight feed-ing in Whittington could

be a first for the Midlands.A ‘VM’ reporter was stunned to

see the extraordinary creature sip-ping at the flowers exactly like a hummingbird.

Tireless searchSwiftly darting from one bloom

to another, it never came to rest.Instead its extended proboscis

slipped into the plants nectaries in search of the sweet fluid while the moth’s blurring wings kept it in a perfectly stationary hover.

A search through the scientific records identified it as the narrow-bordered bee hawk-moth (Hemaris

tityus), one of two simi-lar insects from the

Sphingidae family known for their rapid sustained flying ability.

Butterfly Conservation’s West Midlands branch chair-man, John Tilt,

said: “This is indeed an excep-

tional sighting and your identifica-tion is correct.

“I have only ever seen two of these moths, both of which were in Scotland and certainly not at this time of year.

Out of season“Their normal flight season is

May to June. “I don’t think we have had any

records in the Midlands. “I will pass the information on

to our moth experts for comments. “Many thanks for sending the

record.”In 2013, another rarity was

spotted on the same buddleia bush, a beautiful silver washed fri-tillary f. valenzina.

Super rarity spotted sipping among Whittington’s buddleias

Hermaris tityus: this beautiful crea-ture was photographed in Scandinavia

Star of 2013.

The Co-operative Group’s farms sale comprised 15,997 hectares of land, residential and commercial properties and 15 farms, including Langley Brook, Tamworth.

The Group organises the Co-operative Retail Trading Group (CRTG), which it seems Mr. Coles’ company is contracted to buy goods from.

Prices going up?Mr. Coles’ members in Whit-

tington wanted to know if they would have to pay more for farm-sourced goods now the Group had lost its capacity to produce its own.

The chief executive did not wish to respond for the reasons set out by his spokesman.

But he has in the past tried to distance his business from negative press about the Co-operative Group, saying TCS should, “not be tarred with the same brush.”

But it is unclear whether or not the Tamworth business has been affected by the Group’s fi-nancial crisis.

TCS’ own ‘divi’ axed A Co-op Group spokesman

told the ‘VM’ that TCS would normally have expected to re-ceive a ‘dividend’ in accordance with the volume of goods it bought from CRTG.

He explained that the system worked in a similar way to the dividend (‘divi’) ordinary shop-pers could receive through be-ing members of their local high street Co-ops.

But he added that because of the Group’s financial position the pay-outs to its corporate members had been suspended over the past 12 months.

That may or may not be part of the reason TCS’ reports seem to point to a £3.21 million fall in the company’s net assets be-tween 2010 and 2014.

A layman’s reading of the re-ports also suggests that there may have been a £1.172 mil-lion growth in TCS’ pension fund deficit since 2010.

In fact, going by the figure

shown in the 2009 report, the deficit appears to have grown since then by £3.508 million to a 2014 figure of £5.676 million.

It may be that Mr. Coles could explain why that is not a matter for concern.

And yet a senior contact with-in retailing told the ‘VM’ that because of TCS’ small size, it could be vulnerable to negative developments such as increas-ing pension deficits and losses of corporate dividends.

The upsurge of low-price shops such as Aldi and Lidl is hurting relatively pricey, ‘con-venience stores’. ‘Out of town trading’ is making things worse for them.

Discount challengeOn August 29, it became clear

that even Tesco was in trouble in a shock profits warning which re-vealed its shareholder dividend was being slashed by 75 per cent.

Small co-operative societies have merged with larger ones.

It has allowed their members to benefit hugely from econo-mies of scale, investment ca-pacity, greater security, reduced vulnerability to adverse trading conditions and better shops.

One large Society told the ‘VM’ that it was against the shared ethos for major players to seek to snap up small ones.

It usually happened because the board of the smaller society could see the benefits a merger would bring to its members.

For members benefit?But the ‘VM’ was told that

people’s vested interests could prevent such beneficial moves taking place.

Even so, it was predicted that the number of individual socie-ties would shrink as the weak ones disappeared.

Co-op members disappointed with Mr. Coles’ wish not to com-ment on his company’s figures have written an open letter to the chairman of TCS’ board of directors, David Rose, a former employee with a 25-year con-nection with the company.

See page 27

Parking chaos: this Co-op driver parked his lorry on the apex of a blind bend opposite the TCS’ Whittington’s store. The traffic ground to halt when a lorry and bus met as they tried to manoeuvre past his vehicle. Long-standing fears about the traffic jam peril along the narrow street nearly became a tragic reality earlier this year when an 11-year-old boy was struck by a car as he emerged from behind a bus. The incident was unrelated to the Co-operative store.

From page 3

Boss’ pay soars while ‘divi’ dives - claimAstonishment on the wing


VISIT our website www.villagemarketnews.co.uk26

Elford Social Club organ-isers are reeling from the impact of another

smash hit. Karaoke came to the village

when DJ Barry John persuaded them that folk would lap up the tuneful ancient Japanese art of singing along to a backing track.

The first phenomenon who got up to wow the crowd is still something of a mystery.

Star qualityA club spokesman, said:

“Haven’t a clue who he is, other than he drives a taxi.

“But he does a brilliant Neil Diamond.

“Then three young ladies did some Abba numbers. They were fantastic as well!”

Apart from being great fun for everyone, Elford’s karaoke nights offer aspiring performers the chance to get in some experience in front of an audience.

The spokesman, said: “Our Wednesday night sessions (7.30pm to 11pm - entry free) look certain to become a perma-nent fixture in our events pro-gramme.”

They are also yet another ex-ample of the ‘VM’-area’s favour-ite social club coming up with a crowd-pulling triumph while oth-er venues continue to go deeper into decline.

The regular events people travel from across the district to enjoy include the legendary Saturday night ballroom and se-quence dancing sessions (8pm to 11pm).

The auctions held every Mon-day night right throughout the month are also massive crowd-pullers.

The club’s Tuesday evening bingo sessions attract a loyal group of players too. More are always welcome.

September’s whist drives will be held on the Thursday nights of the 9th and 23rd.

Ann’s specialA special event will be staged

on Saturday, September 25, when Ann Rowley holds her 2104 coffee morning in support of the Macmillan cancer charity.

Her superb gatherings have been hailed the best of their kind in the district.

Details can be obtained by ringing 01827 383807.

People who survive Septem-ber’s excitement can look for-ward to a special beer and skit-tles night, on Friday, October 4.

The £7.50 entry fee includes a fish and chip supper.

People can book at the club, or by ringing 01827 383315, or 383461.

Music nights magicalKaraoke caught on like wildfire

Facing danger

Hedgehogs score 11 on the Richter Scale of cute every time.

But being beautiful little ani-mals is not protecting them from a serious decline.

In the 1950s there were an estimated 36 million of them in Britain.

Now it is feared there are few-er than one million left.

Tens of thousands are killed on the roads every year.

Bad management of hedge-

rows, fragmentation of their hab-itat, housing development and industrial estates are all taking a heavy toll on their numbers too.

Monoculture agriculture and farmers wiping out invertebrates with poisons are also robbing hedgehogs of their food sources.

They are an ‘indicator spe-cies’ whose fortunes show how healthy the environment is it.

Pressure on the countryside in growing. Yet if people lend the hedgehogs a hand hope remains.

Hedgehogs sufferinga rapid rise in losses

Find out how you can help protect these creatures on page 29

Alrewas residents are complaining about a lo-cal company’s involve-

ment in the ‘Best Kept Village’ (BKV) competition.

Poor reflectionThey feel that the Leavesley

Group’s vehicle and scrapyard compound, plainly visible off the

A38, is, “an eyesore”, that reflects badly on their community.

Because of that they say it was inappropriate for the company to sponsor the ‘In Remembrance’ competition for 11 to 16-year-olds run on behalf of the National Me-morial Arboretum in association with the main BKV contest.

Spirit and prideThe competition

aims to encourage community spirit and stimulate people’s pride in making their village the, “best kept”.

The Leavesly Group did not respond to the residents’ concerns about the condition of its premises.

Rogue scrapmen cel-ebrated a Lichfield Dis-trict Council’s (LDC)

crack-down with a fiesta of law breaking.

Residents in Boley Park have for month after month been pleading with, begging and try-ing cajole Councillor Colin Grea-torex into taking effective action to rid their streets of metal trad-ers operating illegally.

Vote him outThey are now so fed up with

him they say they are redirect-ing their campaign into getting rid of him at next year’s elec-tions.

Immediately after the coun-cillor’s latest supposed crack-down, the scrap trucks were out again in several ‘VM’-area vil-lages blaring out bugle calls and messages over loudspeakers as they touted for business.

Police repeatedly warn about the link between scrapmen op-erating illegally and thefts.

The police ask people to ring them on 101.

Staffordshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner recently told a meeting of ‘VM’-area councillors that the 101 system was not functioning as it should.

Coun. Greatorex said peo-ple should send reports to his department. But the reporting system he set up appears de-liberately designed not to work.

LDC makes hundreds of pounds through its scrap metal dealers licensing service.

Any scrapman touting for business using a loudspeaker is committing an offence.

Colin has eyes everywhere but still cannot spot the wrong’uns

Carry on regardless

BKV eyesore - claim

Dear Mr. Rose,

I write further to earlier correspondence as a member of Tamworth Cooperative Society, a long-term supporter of the co-operative movement and supporter of its traditional principles of fairness, transparency, democ-racy and service to its members and the community.

Sadly, the Tamworth Cooperative Soci-ety seems no longer to subscribe to these principles.

Neither does it appear to be being man-aged to the principal benefit of its members and the community since the interests of sen-ior executives appear to have been catered for in inverse proportion to the success of their management.

Recent years have seen a significant de-cline in the Society’s trading position, assets, reserves and employee numbers.

The long-term future of the Society must be in doubt. However the chief executive officer who has presided over this appears to have been rewarded for failure by increased remuneration almost exactly matching the degree of that decline.

I therefore ask how such increases were justified and also what their potential effect is on the Society’s pension fund liabilities, given that there appears already to be a significant potential deficit.

Not only does the financial and business management appear to be ineffective, the Society’s response to legitimate questions, or criticism, seems to display an arrogance that does not sit well with Cooperative principles.

Some years ago there was considerable disquiet in Whittington resulting from a num-ber of incidents including robberies and ram raids at the village Co-operative store.

There was genuine fear for the villagers’ safety and for that of the store staff.

The issue was taken up by the editor of the local micro-newspaper, who suggested the introduction of better safety measures includ-ing staff alarms and the tills and the tobacco/alcohol areas being made visible from the outside, better physical protection against ram raiders’ cars and better CCTV cover.

The fact that the Society adopted these suggestions, which have proven to be effec-tive and which were widely supported in the village, is testimony to their appropriateness.

To its great discredit, the Society, rather than expressing gratitude for the advice of the editor, which has clearly worked to the benefit of the Co-op’s staff and the residents of the village, it banned him from access to the only shop in his village and refused to al-low him membership of the Society.

This ban continues to the present day in spite of a further recent application for mem-bership, which was refused without even the courtesy of an explanation.

This high handed, undemocratic approach can only result in a further deterioration of the reputation of the society.

I would suggest that at a time when such small Societies are becoming increasingly financially vulnerable that improving their public image, rather than inviting adverse publicity, would make better business sense.

I ask that the Board reconsiders the posi-tion and also that I be supplied with copies of the Rules of the Society, its accounts for the last four years and details of the place and timing of the Board’s next annual general meeting.Yours sincerely,Name and address supplied.


Letters to the Editor - more letters on page 28

Co-op member’s open letter to the chairman of the Tamworth Co-operative Society’ board of directors

Dear Editor,

Thought I would write and say how much we enjoy reading ‘Vil-lage Market’, which drops though our letter box each month.

There is so much news in it! The articles that interested my-self (August ‘VM) was ‘Dear Mr. Fabricant’ and references to his ‘John Lewis’ friend.

The advert about ‘Christopher’s (Tamworth’s premier bistro eat-ery) had us booking ourselves a date in October to visit ‘Chris-topher’s - well that’s our sons name!

The quality colour photographs of the food made me feel hungry!

The ‘goings on’ at Whittington Barracks (‘Hanky Panky in the butts) and no action seemingly being taken is a disgrace.

After seeing their advert, I am looking to book a breakfast with a friend at ‘Heart of the Coun-try’ (shopping village) with an ex work colleague, in September.

The Clifton Campville article was very interesting (council takes 21 years to answer letter), albeit I have no connection with the area - another disgrace.

The wind farm article (evidence of health-harming infrasound dis-covered) was very interesting.

How true what you said about the tobacco industry saying no link with smoking and cancer and the reports they kept secret - and now your link with the wind farms and the ‘noise’.

I did not realise about the Euro Cylinders (thieves are targeting locks on PVC doors that can be snapped open in seconds) and will up date our son who lives away from home and has a plastic front door to check it out.

Beautiful Gardens’ advert: we can speak from our own experi-ence and say they do undertake work of the highest standard and Simon (Fradley businessman Si-mon Roberts) was a pleasure to deal with.

May I ask you to mention to Deborah B. (Ms. D. Barnish of An-gel Tomney Garden Design) how lovely our back garden has been this year.

My wife Jane and I often think of her when sitting out in it and are very grateful for her profes-sional input into its design.

There are ‘colourful displays’ al-

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Letters to the Editor - from 27

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Dear Editor, Being interested in wildlife, I

wanted to make my Whittington garden as attractive to hedgehogs as possible.

So I put out two hedgehog houses. I also bought some meat-based biscuits to leave out for them along with some small dishes of water.

I was rewarded when a prickly visitor came snuffling around the garden in the early evening.

Since then it has been a delight to watch more hedgehogs come into the garden over the summer, both adults and babies.

I believe they need to weigh at least six kilos to survive their long winter hibernation.

So now the weather is turn-ing cooler, I have increased the amount of food I leave out for them. The plates are always licked clean by morning.

A chopped up hot dog sausage, or a handful of dried mealy worms can make the difference between life and death for these wonderful creatures.

Sad to say, we are rapidly help-ing to drive them into extinction with our block paving, neat gar-dens and inconsiderate driving.

I saw a dead hedgehog on the crossroads of Back Lane and Rock

Farm Road last week.Please spare a thought for the

for them the next time you drive through the village at night.

Carelessness may result in or-phaned youngsters being left alone and unable to fend for themselves.

Despite having few predators, hedgehogs are dying out.

Come on Whittington, let’s do our bit and give them at least a fighting chance.

Here are some ways to help our hedgehogs:

• Leave out water and a suit-able food such as puppy food, dried meal worms, small meat based biscuits (no fish or milk and bread)

• Let part of your garden go wild. Hedges with natural under-growth, wild flowers and log piles will all provide food and shelter for a variety of wildlife.

• If you can, use natural alter-natives to pesticides and herbi-cides and garden as organically as possible. Dead slugs and snails make a good meal for a hedge-hog but they can harm him if they were poisoned.

• Take care when strimming undergrowth - hedgehogs may be asleep in it. Many are taken to rescue centres and animal hospi-tals with horrific injuries caused

by strimmers.• Ensure swimming pools and

ponds have an easy exit so hedge-hogs can climb out. Many fall in looking for water in hot weather and then drown.

Ensure all netting is left at least four to five inches above the ground - hedgehog spines easily become entangled.

• Re-site all bonfires immediate-ly prior to burning - they look like an ideal nest sites to hedgehogs - many are killed on Bonfire night.

• Be careful when turning or moving compost heaps - they too look like very tempting nest sites to a hedgehog.

• Make sure empty food con-tainers are disposed of properly, ideally by recycling. Hedgehogs will try to lick out the last scraps out of them and may become stuck when their spines prevent them from backing out. Then they starve to death unless they are lucky enough to be rescued.

• Make a hedgehog sized hole in the garden boundary as they will travel several kilometres at night in their search for food.

• Pay very close attention when driving through the village, espe-cially at night.Yours sincerely,Name and address supplied.

most throughout the whole year.Your article about parish coun-

cils (complaints soaring about secretive authorities) was very interesting, although it did make my blood pressure go up.

‘Bake 180 Coffee Shop’: read the piece and cut out the coupon ready for Jane and myself to visit in a few weeks time.

I was not aware of the event you featured at Samuel Barlow’s (historic boat festival at the ca-nalside pub at Alvecote Marina Village). It is in our diary.

The story about ‘localism’ (communities miss out on Camer-on’s promised millions) was very interesting, but again my blood pressure went up.

Alrewas Mill and the water lev-els was again very interesting (businessman Peter Coates warns over clogging Mill Stream).

Saw a couple of months ago the ‘Jellybean’ advert and we are having security cameras fitted in a few days time by them follow-ing your advert and then a recom-mendation by someone we know.

All articles and adverts are read as I am interested in the life of the local community.

Keep up the good work - have enjoyed your publication since it was first produced (February 2009).Yours sincerely,Derek JonesBoley Park

Village gardener’s urgent hedgehog alert

ON THE DAY of Finbar Flynn’s funeral, his mom excused the awful insensitivity of our earlier cheekiness, because she asked our parents, all six of them, if us six kids would be the first in the front of the ‘‘walkers’’ behind the hearse, even in front of his mother and family.

Decency observedBut it was on condition we

promised there would be no swearing until after the burial.

Me Mammy was awash with sympathy for Mrs Flynn.

“Isn’t it an awful shame that the poor woman has lost anoth-er one?” She’d cry.

“But sure, with the load of children she has, she’ll hardly miss him - at least it will free up one of the bed places.

“Sure, two of them have to sleep on the floor in that house!”

We weren’t such a small fam-

ily ourselves. There should have been nine children, three boys and six girls, but one boy and two girls went and died.

And that was probably a good job, or else I might have been sleeping on the floor myself.

So now I had one brother and four sisters, plus me Mammy and me Da (when he wasn’t away working in England), and a house full of instruments.

We had a big oblong piano, which filled up at least 25 per cent of the floor space in our sit-ting room/living area.

Always room for musicWe had a melodeon box, a

chromatic keyboard box, (that’s same as Melodeon but has but-tons, not keys, and you get two notes per one button), a banjo, various flutes, mouth organs, and my favourite, a mandolin.

One lady went rabbiting on

outside the church, telling her enraptured listener how Nelly and the sailor, who had provided her with a baby, were now to be seen very often together.

Rumour had it that they were to be married.

Cruelly misjudgedSo our darling Nellie had been

genuinely in love with the man and he with her for some long time.

She was not just selling her wares on the quayside to sailors as everyone thought.

It was a secret liaison with the serviceman she loved.

Nelly had made a strong point by purposely making no point and providing no explanations, or excuses, for her actions.

She cared not a fig for what any busybody thought (and there were plenty).

Even the priests, who liked

her not, got it wrong.And they, men of God, had

not the Christian charity to give her the benefit of the doubt.

The one small problem was that Nellie was already mar-ried - to the town’s champion Guinness supporter.

Our neighbours the Murphys, showed her bigotry too, even though they suffered it them-selves - she being huge and he being tiny.

ReconciliationThen one day, after

Mr. Murphy had died, didn’t Mrs. Murphy see Nellie passing and ask her in for a cup of tea!


‘Dare To Recall’ by Martin Ryan Part 16In ‘A Return To Grace’ Alrewas author Martin Ryan’s seven-strong gang is now reduced to six by God’s calling home of their friend. Yet their sad loss brings a strange rehabilitation as a bereaved mother grudgingly allows them back into the family of man. Nellie too, she of the red hat, no knickers and easy virtue, also teaches the young Martin that there is good in everyone and that none of us should judge lest we ourselves be judged and found wanting.

Gone: butwithus still.

‘The Village Market’, 9 - 11 Main Street, Whittington, Lichfield Staffordshire, WS14 9JU. Editor: GL Griffiths.t: 01543 432341. e: [email protected]. Published by Village Market Micronewspapers Ltd.

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