Gresley Rovers - real football

I have decided to take an advert in the programme for the season at Gresley Rovers.

They are an important part of life in the Urban Core. They have always been run by people who care about the area and particularly the youth teams.

My husband Bob and I queued up to pay at the turnstiles for the first round of the FA Cup to watch the match against Alvechurch.
Gavin Saunders scored the rebound after his spot kick had been saved with Jamie Barrett, David Blenkinsopp and Gavin Lock all adding to the total.
A great result a 4-1 win against the side that at best they had only drawn against before.
So the next round of the FA Cup Sat 13th September against Chase Town.
Come on Gresley Rovers!

If you want to know more about Gresley Rovers check out their website and maybe see you at the Moat Ground http://www.gresleyrovers.com/

Credit crunch 'hits rural areas hardest'

A new report has confirmed that rural areas are being hit hardest by the credit crunch. The Conservative Party has commented to many media sources recently about the economic climate's effect on rural life, with rising fuel costs and related transport and heating woes, high food prices, rural crime including poaching and the continuing lack of affordable housing topping the list of problems faced by our residents. Mirroring our views, price comparison website moneysupermarket.com has published a report comparing urban and rural living costs. The report said. "The Lake District village of Patterdale is 16 miles from the nearest major supermarket, petrol and diesel are around 7p per litre higher than the national average, the average annual salary is £19,200, and council tax is over £1,460 for a Band D property. Contrast this with Edinburgh where supermarkets and petrol stations abound, public transport is plentiful, the average salary is £8,000 higher, council tax is £300 less and homes are gas heated. Barely any of Patterdale's homes have mains gas so heating oil or bottled gas provide the heat but at around double the cost that it was last year." Moneysupermarket.com said that "Over five million households without gas are paying double what they were last year to heat their homes. And this urban-rural divide, sadly, also extends to two of the other essentials of life - food and petrol or diesel. Rural Britain is paying more than urban Britain for its food, petrol and diesel, is travelling further and earning less. This is a crisis that the Government has yet to recognise."

An answer to risking losing local shops is that we would certainly urge everyone to use their village and farm shops to help beat the crunch. Until Gordon Brown’s team leave the stage we are all going to have to tighten our belts. At least he has not found a way to tax fresh air yet!

POST OFFICE CARD ACCOUNT UNDER THREAT

The Post Office Card Account (POCA) is a basic cash account run by the Department for Work and Pensions, which can only receive welfare, state pension and tax credit deposits.

The current Post Office Card Account contract ends in 2010. Gordon Brown’s Government is replacing it with a new contract (so-called ‘POCA2’), but due to EU rules, it has to put the new contract out to competitive tender. The National Federation of Sub-Postmasters has stated that 3,000 post offices will forced to close if the Post Office Ltd loses its contract for the Card Account. The Card Account is used by 4 million people each week to access pensions and benefits.


A Conservative Government will expand and widen the role of POCA, both enabling it to accept additional deposits – including housing benefit and any weekly wages – and create sub-accounts which can be used for direct debit payments on a full range of public and private sector bills, including utilities.

With our under Conservative proposals fees from utility companies for this POCA functionality are projected to generate £20 million in additional revenues for post offices each year. Post Office Ltd makes a saving of approximately £18,000 from the closure of each individual post office. The £20 million of additional revenues could therefore help to keep more post offices open and help suspend Labour’s programme of forced post office cuts.

These plans will also bring in additional revenue for Post Offices, helping maintain our important network and stave off more Labour cuts.

Join our campaign to save the Post Offices, Save the POCA Accounts and help with fuel poverty for those in need.

Swadlincote regeneration starts now

Tuesday 29th July was a very important day for the future of South Derbyshire and Swadlincote in particular.
The Development Control Committee voted in favour of a massive regeneration project on the Hepworth's land. When the project is finished, amongst other attractions, you will not have to go to Burton or Tamworth or Derby for a cinema or shopping.
South Derbyshire has changed and grown in the 20 years our family have been here and now we will see a Town centre that caters for today's and tomorrows needs.
See the article that appeared in the Burton Mail for more on this Click Here

Photo by Neil Barker (Burton Mail) Story By LAURIE DEVITT (Burton Mail)