The Beehive

11/04/2024

Finally got round to electricity generation! My solar panels went up on the roof last week and I've already generated over 50kWh since I was "plugged in" last Friday and this is on wet cloudy days. Can't wait for summer!
The team from Project Solar UK are great, they design to your need and tell you what you'll benefit and how much it'll cost. You decide what's best for your needs, they're not pushy, so if you change your mind, that's fine by them.
If you plan to go ahead with an installation, the whole team have been great, the scaffolders, sparkys, admin and customer service have all been faultless for me. From my initial enquiry to completion, it took less than 3 weeks.
"Oooh, it's a bit expensive" I hear you say. The initial outlay is, but the investment is worthwhile, especially if you are a business and can offset the asset. My system should have paid for its self in 18 months time, though it will take longer if you're a domestic user. As I see it, every kWh of energy that you're not taking from the grid is a bonus, both environmentally, plus you won't be pumping up Putins purse.
If you want more information, get in touch

29/02/2024

Today gave me a unique experience, delivering the Westmorland Gazette for the first (and last) time on February the 29th!

The last time this occurred was back in 2008, when it was published on a Friday and was a broadsheet costing 55p. I hadn't begun delivering papers until later that year, having acquired the shop in 2007. I recall Muriel Hawkes badgering me constantly to re-establish the rounds and how much I was going to charge for delivery. 15p per day and 20p at weekends was the initial rate.

The paper now costs nearly triple that now (£1.60), though delivery charges haven't even doubled. That is about to change with an increase of 5p per day, making the new rates 30p weekdays and 35p at weekends, still way under the national average, and hopefully still affordable for the local readership!

This gives my paperboys and papergirls a little more incentive to get up early, regardless of the weather to earn a crust.

Over the last decade and a half, newspaper readership has declined dramatically as the older generations die out and the media circus moves to online platforms, reducing the need for delivery staff.

The day will come (though hopefully not so soon) when newspaper delivery will become a thing of the past, which will be a great shame for the up and coming generations.

There's a lot to admire about being a paperboy/girl. It's not for all kids, some choose to stay in bed for just a little longer, but for those that do, it gives them a routine, a little organisation is required, time limits to adhere to, otherwise they may miss the school bus/ train, a change of clothes into school uniform, a bike to maintain, a route to follow. The skills, independence and experience they acquire are hard to replicate. Also, something that shouldn't be overlooked is that the money they get is hard earned and whatever they choose to spend it on tends to be looked after because of this, teaching them a form of respect that they wouldn't get from pocket money.

There's probably more,... social interaction, being polite, raising an alarm when yesterday's paper is still in the letterbox, the list goes on.

So, if you want to help prolong paper rounds in Staveley (and surrounding areas) now is the time to stop gawping at snippets online and help out this "social service" and order a paper, it might just help your mobile phone from going flat half way through the day!

Or maybe you know an elderly/infirm neighbour who doesn't even realise that someone is cycling past their door at daft o'clock!

13/01/2024

Link to the Independents YouTube video clip

https://youtu.be/ZEMyQAY8HNs

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

13/01/2024

I've only a couple of dozen left, can post out a copy if you live far away. (Might as well make use of the Post Office while it's still here!)

Cost you just over a fiver.
Ring the shop 01539821253 if you are interested.

09/01/2024

I've been a sub-postmaster in Staveley since 2009.
I smelled a rat in 2010 when my office had a shortfall of £250, which I declared as it the last day of the trading period. The following day, when I was solely in charge I was down again by exactly £250. Previously, I had balanced nearly perfectly every day since we opened.
Having contacted the helpline to resolve the issue, I was told it was a branch error and I was responsible for the loss, which I settled centrally. I had asked all the right questions, network errors, servers down etc. to be told that every thing was fine and that I was the only one.

Following the screening on ItvX, I have decided to quit, I have given 6 months notice. I posted my intentions on Facebook to let all the locals know (and why) and contacted my MP, Tim Farron, to put him in the picture. Media interest has surged and I have been interviewed by BBC Radio Cumbria, which will be broadcast tomorrow (07:00).
The Westmorland Gazette will be featuring my story, available online now and in print on Thursday.

08/01/2024

It's not often I post messages on here unless I have something relevant to say.

I'd like to start by wishing you all a belated Happy New Year. I hope it is, though what I am about to announce doesn't really get it off to a good start.

I'll begin with the news about the change of hours at the Beehive. Due to the quiet time of the year, the shop will open as usual at 8 a.m. and close earlier at 2 p.m.
I plan to go back to longer hours just prior to Easter.

More importantly is the news that I have given my notice to leave to the Post Office and will no longer be a sub-postmaster come July 4th, I'll be joining the whole of the USA celebrating independence day.

For those of you who haven't seen the ITV screening of Mr Bates versus the Post Office, I urge you to do so before you cast judgement on my decision. I have given this careful thought, but my conscience over-rides the fact that I will be throwing a spanner in the works. My Post Office area manager understands the situation as does Tim Farron, who has given his word that he will no longer try to twist my arm to reverse my decision, following a couple of lengthy emails where I divulged some rather personal details of what I (and Fokel) have been through, so please don't bombard Tim with a campaign. Both aforementioned will put their thinking caps on in an attempt to relocate the Post Office in Staveley, but it definitely will not be on my premises. If anyone has any wise ideas, then please care to share them.

For the record and to save my jaw from repeating itself, I took on the Post Office in 2009. For the first six months, I balanced perfectly (or to within a few pence) every day. My first shortfalls occurred in 2010 and continued in a random pattern through to 2015 totalling a few thousand pounds. I was lied to and was told that I was the only one, just like everyone else, even when I asked whether there were any faults in the network. There was no response to my enquiries, just told that it was a branch error and I was responsible for my losses, for which I had to reimburse the Post Office. Whilst other local offices were hit by much larger amounts and consequently shut down, I considered myself lucky that I was able to absorb mine (reluctantly) and continued to serve the village, but the worry that something catastrophic might happen always lingered in the back of my mind.

When I watched the screening on ItvX, I was reduced to tears in parts and was disgusted by the bullying tactics used by those that sat up in their ivory towers and the lengths they went to in order to save the face of the Post Office at the expense of the common man, hence my newly devised acronym for POL is "P**s On Littluns".

I hope that I am not the only sub-postmaster that has a strong conscience and that others review their position and do the same.

I would like to thank Alan Bates for his dogged persistence over two decades without whom the doors for other victims would have never been opened for the likes of me to claim compensation in this gigantic scandal. Hats off to him for turning down a gong for his achievement, whilst Paula Vennells clings on to hers.

As for the great debate over whether she should hand back her CBE, I haven't signed the petition and don't intend to, she took over the captaincy of a sinking ship and didn't have a big enough bailing bucket. She jumped ship just as it was descending beneath the water. The gong round her neck will feel like wearing lead boots soon, if she keeps them on, she'll disappear to the ocean floor. I hope her God hears her prayers for forgiveness better than her apologies that were broadcast with little sentiment to the thousands afflicted.
As for the others involved, watch your backs, the witch hunt has barely begun!