Some of
you will probably have heard rumours about the future of Lubenham
News. Mike and Doris Doehren can now let villagers know their
plans.
After 13 ½ years in Lubenham, working 364 days a year with
very early starts, they felt that, as they are now both in
their 60s, it was high time for a drastic change in their
lifestyle. Having tried unsuccessfully to sell the business,
and after much consideration of the other options, they came
to the conclusion that it would be best to dispose of the
delivery of newspapers. This would not only give them some
much-needed time for themselves, but possibly give them the
time and space to increase the stock of groceries, etc., to
try to provide the village with a better service in these
areas. Papers will continue to be sold over the counter, but
from Sunday 16th September the delivery rounds will be taken
over by the Mercury News shop (in Harborough). If you already
have newspapers delivered you should have received details
of the changes by now.
You may have seen Mike and Doris doing the paper rounds themselves
recently, and will appreciate how difficult it has been to
recruit and retain reliable deliverers. If you have children
over 13 years (or are of any age with a little time to spare)
please consider the paper rounds. Since it is unlikely that
the staff of the Mercury shop can do the actual delivering,
it is therefore in your interest, if you wish to keep a delivery
service in the village, to ensure there are people willing
to keep it going. (The papers for each round will be delivered
to the house of the delivery person.)
From 16th September the Lubenham shop will open on Mondays
to Fridays from 8 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. and on Saturdays from
8 a.m. to 1 p.m. It will no longer open on Sundays or Bank
Holidays.
Mike and Doris thank all villagers for their support and custom
in the past. They hope that existing customers will continue
to use the shop and that those villagers who have no yet made
their acquaintance will at least come to see what they offer.
We are all very hopeful - and confident - that Geoff and Liz
will have our sub post office open again before Chlistnnas
at The Coach and Horses. Edward Gamier, our local MP, who
has pledged his full support to the venture, was to have met
Derek Bott last week to discuss the next stages; but this
meeting could not, of course, take place. All we are waiting
for now is a grant from the Vital Village Project, which has
already given more than 40 grants to establish shops and post
offices in rural communities.
Liz
hopes that she will soon undergo her training so that she
will emerge as a fully fledged sub-postmistress. The post
office will be set up in one of the local outbuildings in
the yard and full security protection will be provided by
the Post Office (or Consignia, as it would like to be known).
A full counter service will be operated on three mornings
each week and money may be paid into your bank account if
it is with those which have an agreement with the Post Office.
We will also have one of the 'Horizon' machines which you
may have seen in other local sub post offices: they are being
tested in Leicestershire before being set up nationwide. Using
a touch-sensitive screen people will be able to fmd out about
benefit entitlements and employment opportunities, local information
and advice for retired people on pensions. The idea is a one
stop service that's been called a "First-Stop Shop". It should
help a lot of people's dealings with central and local government;
the sub-post mistress, with technology support, becomes somebody
you go to in the first instance to perform a lot of basic
procedures. There will eventually be scope to take up more
of central governinent's work in the Post Offices.
An exciting future possibility is the creation of an agency
service so that if you have an account with one of the main
banks you can still access a limited service at their post
office, which is great for us in rural areas. For those who
either don't want a bank account or can't get one there is
the possibility of a "universal bank", a Post Office operated
bank which will actually handle those accounts.
Bill Johnston
September 2001
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