Michael Wilkes

We regret to say that lottery scams are still doing the rounds in Hall Green (and, we also regret to say, people are still being taken in by them) as are bogus letters, phone calls and emails falsely claiming to be from a bank and other despicable deceits.

Never give any caller your bank details - even if they’re promising to throw in the Eiffel Tower! If it seems too good to be true then you can be sure that it won’t be true!

We also advise not doing business with unsolicited callers at the door. Elderly people are particularly vulnerable to overcharging - or worse. So make it a rule to say no to cold calling whatever form it may take!

As if this latest round of threatened Post Office closures wasn’t enough, the Post Office Card Account (POCA) is also under threat! The Government is soon to determine what is to succeed POCA. There are around four million people who use, and who wish to continue to use, this convenient and simple means of accessing their benefits at their local Post Office each week. We believe most strongly that people should be allowed to keep this choice.

The card account contract is worth around £1 billion over seven yeard. Without the successor account, POCA2, it is estimated that up to an additional three thousand post offices could be forced to close as a result! It is therefore absolutely imperative that this government does not strike yet another blow at our Post Offices, the services that they offer and the local communities that depend on them.

The Government should ensure that POCA2 remains a Post Office product. You can get a form to send to your Member of Parliament from the Robin Hood Post Office. Alternatively you can print out or download the points to make from our Post Office Campaign Information page on this site or simply write to your MP urging him/her to sign Early Day Motion 1506 and, if they have not been doing so already, in future support post offices at every opportunity in the House of Commons.

Councillors Michael Wilkes, Paula Smith, Jackie Hawthorn and Jerry Evans met recently with the Post Office Manager at Robin Hood to discuss efforts to save this valued Post Office from closure. We are also actively involved in other meetings on the threatened post office closures.

The petition gathered at the Robin Hood Post Office is going very well with well over 1.000 signatures to date. The more signatures the better - and there’s still plenty of time to sign the petition - and to make your views known by letter. To gain its support, Michael presented the first batch of signatures to the City Council on Tuesday (the originals were returned to Robin Hood Post Office for later transmission to the closure ‘consultation team’). For some useful points to check and include in your letters see our new page on this site ’Post Office Campaign Information’.

There will be a discussion of the proposed closures as an agenda item at a meeting of Hall Green Constituency Committee (made up of the councillors from all four wards and chaired by Councillor Jerry Evans) to be held at Hall Green Library, Stratford Road (by Cambrai Drive) at 7-00 p.m. on Tuesday 22^nd July. Representatives of Post Office Ltd. and Postwatch have been invited to attend. The agenda will be available for inspection at local libraries from the 17^th of July. The full set of papers will also be viewable on the City Council’s website at www.birmingham.gov.uk under ‘City Governance’.

We hope that as many residents as possible who are opposed to the threatened closure will be able to come along to take part. In addition, the City Council has organised a scrutiny of the Post Office closures and the Evening Mail has an anti-closure campaign. Our best chance is if we all pull together - as we will try very hard to do.

Once again Hall Green residents are threatened with post office closures. Following the closure of the post office in Highfield Road, changes on the Parade and threats elsewhere, we are now faced with closures of the post offices at the Robin Hood Island (shown in our photograph) and in Shaftmoor Lane. As you may remember, your local councillors and the community have fought very hard over the years to keep our post offices open (and indeed tried to get a replacement post office at the convenience store in Highfield Road) and retain their valuable services.

Campaigning together is the best way that we can show that the people will not be treated as mere profit fodder, nor will we stand idly by while our post offices are swept away in another tide of government driven corporate cleansing. So far no less than 4,000 post offices have been closed under Labour (following the 3,500 closures during the Conservatives time in office). As if this wasn’t enough, it is now planned to close 2,500 more.

The government has ruthlessly withdrawn services from the Post Office. Last year alone they took out business worth £168,000,000. The way that these cuts in income and unwanted changes have been forced through by government and heartless, bossy and overpaid managers higher up in the post office is a disgrace.

A closed branch doesn’t only mean the loss of services to local people, it also has a series of knock-on effects as nearby shops suffer (and may also subsequently close) with people having to make awkward journeys to other offices - and finding queues when they get there. The distance measure is flawed, and even now (following the Highfield Road cut) there are people in their eighties in Hall Green who are faced with a round trip that can take up to an hour and a half. Post Offices are much more than businesses and people are much more than ‘punters’. Indeed, for many people, particularly the elderly, vulnerable or isolated, post offices are lifelines.

Previous experience shows that if we can’t prevent this latest lot of closures, then the axe will fall again before long. In our next Hall Green Focus newsletter there will of course be a petition and there will be posters and press releases. But the main chance of success is the extent of public opposition to the cuts. Please do all you can to make your views known. Don’t let this be the last post!

You can sign our on-line petition (click the ’Useful Link’ to the petition on the left hand sidebar) or email your support to Michael, Paula or Jackie as:

Michael.Wilkes@birmingham.gov.uk

Paula.D.Smith@birmingham.gov.uk 

Jackie.Hawthorn@birmingham.gov.uk

In our view, governments spend far too much of their time with their heads in the clouds fiddling with ‘high finance’ and not nearly enough time considering the interests of local communities. The Government and the Post Office (and the MPs and Labour councillors that supported them) must realise that they have got it very badly wrong and they must think again!

The Hall Green Preservation Group (HGPG) held its most recent meeting at the Library on June 12^th where progress made by the four sub-groups was reviewed and there was a general discussion on various aspects of the planning process. Substantial work on early plans of our area has been carried out and a DVD (see the item below) has been produced.

The sub-groups cover Houses (for example, the Hamlets, The Chalet and Tolkien’s former home), Social Establishments (for example the Bull’s Head, the Friends Meeting House and Hall Green Junior School), Gardens, Trees and the Green Environment (for example, the bridges in the Dingles, Moseley Bog and central reservations), and unusual or mixed styles of building (for example, Sarehole Mill, Hall Green’s railway stations and bowling clubs). There are now 48 enthusiastic members of HGPG, which is going from strength to strength.

The next meeting of the preservation group is scheduled for Thursday July 17^th at 7-15 p.m. at Hall Green Library meeting room. We hope that Mr Andy Foster, author and architectural expert, will be able to join us at this or a later meeting. Do come along if you would like to take part in our activities.

David Hardy, of Southam Road, is perhaps best known for images that show the future, as he is a leading astronomical and science fiction artist.

However, he also has a great interest in the past, and took a leading role in our recent (abortive) attempt to save Highfield House, being our spokesman for Radio WM, and is also a founder member of the HG Preservation Group.

This has also led him commence a private project: to collect old archive pictures of Hall Green - the landmark places and buildings still standing - and photograph them as they are today, from as close to the original camera position as possible, and including a section on Highfield House. He has now produced a very interesting 42-minute ‘digital slideshow’ on DVD entitled ‘Hall Green: Then & Now’, copies of which are available from Hall Green Library.

The DVD is not being sold commercially, but residents may obtain a copy for a contribution to the extensive costs of production (blank DVDs and cases, ‘burning’ each copy, printing labels, etc.) He can be contacted at 0121 777 1802, and his website is www.astroart.org.

At the Hall Green Ward Committee (see page on Hall Green Ward for description of functions etc) on 6^th June, resources were approved for double kerbing at the corner of Cole Valley Road and Highfield Road, tree pits (holes in the ground!) for planting missing trees in Pembroke Croft, support for the burglary reduction initiative, a community gardening initiative, a BCOP scheme for minor repairs for elderly people, lighting improvements in Scribers Lane, Clifton Green and Halewood Grove.

We passed a resolution in support of making local decisions on local spending for good purposes free of targets, criteria and second-guessing by officers at the council centre. We had updates on the Red Route, Railway Stations (both Hall Green and Yardley Wood are 100 years old this year) and continued our efforts to secure a full recycling service for roads such as Woodvale Road and residential establishments.

These and many other matters were discussed and decisions taken. We placed on the agenda for the next meeting the still derelict flats in Creswell Road and the future of the Four Seasons gardening project. Local residents are encouraged to attend and take part in Ward Committee meetings. They are held on Fridays at 7-00 at Hall Green School. The next meeting is on 11^th July and subsequent meetings are on 12^th September, 14^th November, 16^th January and 20^th March.

Since the tragic destruction of Highfield House and the devastation of its grounds, thoughts about Hall Green’s history and heritage have been brought right to the forefront of people’s minds. The developers have finished their demolition and reduced the site at the corner of Highfield Road and Robin Hood Lane to a dismal wasteland.

The Hall Green Preservation Group that was started due to the loss of the locally listed Highfield House is now going from strength to strength with more local residents joining every week. The preservation group has made good headway into researching certain local properties and at the next meeting we will look into moving things forward with a view to getting them statutorily listed. Statutory listing offers a good deal more protection than local listing - which was shown to be practically worthless if planners do not have the will to make it meaningful.

Anyone who is interested in preserving and protecting their local heritage (including both the built and natural environments) or who would like to find out more about the activities of the preservation group will be most welcome.

For further details of HGPG, either email Councillor Michael Wilkes as michael.wilkes@birmingham.gov.uk or call Councillor Paula Smith on 0121-778-6679.

Losing a pet can be a devastating experience at any time of life, but the impact can be even greater for elderly people who may feel that their own advancing years make it unwise to adopt another four legged companion. This does not have to be the case, however. There are many fostering schemes available where cats and dogs can be fostered full time or part time for as little or as long as the fosterer wishes and is able to cope with.

For existing elderly pet owners in fragile health, there is also a wonderful nation-wide specialist charity, The Cinnamon Trust, where volunteers will take the dog for a walk, fetch pet food, take pets to the vet, clean out the bird’s cage, foster your pet while you are in hospital and even find a new home for your pet should the worst happen.

The trust, which is the only such specialist national charity was founded in 1985 also offers its services to terminally ill pet owners who will be faced with the same worries and fears as elderly pet owners. in fact anyone of any age can make arrangements for pets that may outlive them to come into the care of the Cinnamon Trust.

For further details, you can contact Hall Green’s Councillor Jackie Hawthorn by email as:  Jackie.hawthorn@birmingham.gov.uk  or telephone 303-4204 or just use the link to the Cinnamon Trust website on the sidebar on this page.