Shop Local - Value for money.

A reader of this blog has very kindly done a small mystery shop at Bowkett's and Tesco's with interesting results.

He bought 11 (mostly) branded items.

Tesco £16.76 Bowketts £15.46 (7.75% saving)

(Although if you spend another 2p at Tesco you could have had 2 tins of Tomatoes instead of 1)

This was only a small shop but shows that for the middle range shopper it can still make sense to shop local.

If you were able to compromise on brand and select the value items (they were only available for 6 out of the 11 items) your Tesco bill would drop to £12.61* (18.43% saving vs Bowketts)

(Lower branded items might also be available at Bowketts)

As is often said, "You can prove anything with statistics" or as Homer (Simpson) said "Facts are meaningless they can be used to prove anything"

(* The branded items often came in larger sizes so I have adjusted the figure to compare. e.g. Heinz Ketchup Squeezy 342g vs Tesco Ketchup Squeezy 1kg)

Will Chase negotiating to buy Malvern Water

Will Chase the local multi millionaire entrepreneur, and majority partner in Chase Tenbury LLP the owners of the Tenbury Cattle Market site is in negotiation with Coca-Cola with a view to buying the Malvern Water brand.

It would appear that whilst the iconic brand may be salvaged, the 108 year old Colwall plant will still be closed and production moved to his Chase Vodka distillery site.

Malvern Water has been popular for hundreds of years, and a favourite with the reigning monarch.

In recent times the water at most (or all) of the public pumps are said to have become contaminated and unsafe to drink unless treated. This fact has not been widely publicised and several people in Tenbury recently became very ill after collecting and drinking water from one of the wells.

Other articles about this story.

The Telegraph

Large Crowds Watch Lights

A large crowd, gathered in Teme Street, Tenbury Wells tonight to watch Ray the Sunshine Radio Cat switch on the 2010 Christmas Lights. The crowds were entertained by the Sunshine Radio road crew, with music and competitions until they switched live to the studio in Ludlow for the switch on.

After the lights were switched on, the crowds were further entertained by members the Teme Valley Band playing a selection of Christmas songs.

Mistletoe Articles 2010

Every year during Mistletoe Season the national press turn their attention to Tenbury Wells. This year the first appears to be the Daily Mail.

Daily Mail - Pucker Up

Daily Express - Bumper Crop
Auction Listing
Birmingham Post
BBC
Guardian
Sunday Mercury
PA
This is Cornwall
New Zealand Herald

I'll publish more links as they appear.

Tenbury Mistletoe Season Starts Tomorrow

"When love is in the air"

Tenbury Mistletoe Season kicks off tomorrow with the turning on of the Christmas Lights. This event has been a bit of a disappointment in the last few years, with promised attractions failing to happen and incorrect timings advertised.

Hopefully this year, with the help of Sunshine Radio it will be an altogether bigger and brighter affair. The weather will hopefully be dry and the temperature not too cold.

Everyone is welcome to the event which will take place outside the Regal at 5.30pm (Friday 19th November 2010).

Later the same evening there is a special showing of the Christmas Classic "It's a wonderful life".

Free Flood Protection Advice this Thursday

Members of Whitehouse Company Flood Mitigation Team will be on hand at the Community Centre this Thursday to discuss and demonstrate Flood Protection devices. Everyone is welcome to attend.

Airband comes to Tenbury.

If you have a voracious appetite for data, but your existing Broadband supplier isn't delivering, then Airband might be for you.

Airband are building a wireless data network in the Tenbury, Leominster, Ludlow area. Initially funded by Advantage West Midlands, they will need to become self sufficient in the long term.

Using a combination of wireless transmitters and receivers, Airband can link up almost anyone in the Tenbury area with their transmitters on Clee Hill or Broadheath. Speeds of up to 1.25Gb/s can in theory be achieved, but at a price. They can also link multiple offices together.

If you need to use Broadband commercially then the prices are much cheaper than other suppliers, but for the domestic user they are not so competitive.

A 4Mb/s connection (1Mb/s upload) with a contention of 1:20 will cost you £25 a month. Great if your existing connection is unreliable or slow, but speeds of 8Mb/s are achievable in Town for less money. (but probably with a higher contention rate, not a problem during the day, but not so good when the facebook generation come home from school)

Airband only provide the "pipe" so any potential customers, business or domestic that are not very computer literate will probably need to also employ additional services from other companies to install the necessary infrastructure.

For the domestic user in areas that are poorly served by fixed line broadband you may find Reebex a cheaper option. Unlike Airband, Reebex will deliver the complete system and offer support.

More information:

Airband

Reebex

Burgage Plan will allow for Events

A revised master plan for the Tenbury Burgage was shown to Tenbury Town Council tonight.

Numerous revisions have been made, but most importantly for many people the plan now allows space for Boot Fairs, Festivals and the traditional November bonfire.

The overall plan could take a number of years to implement as funding becomes available, but it is hoped that the first phase will include additional play equipment aimed at younger children which couldn't be included in the first phase as it was specifically excluded by the grant provider.

The new fence is expected to be installed this month.