I have never been a camping girl, more of an Alistair Sawday B&B fan, so it did occur to me that my first proper trip camping in the middle of Dartmoor, albeit, carefully planned to coincide with very nice August sunshine, might be a bit of a shock to the system.
Lloyds Bank has confirmed that it currently has no plans to close its branch in Ottery St Mary, after I emailed its chief executive two weeks ago urging him not to close the facility.
Several other organisations in the town also wrote, including the town council, the chamber of commerce and the Later Life Forum. I believe some residents also emailed too.
We emailed the chief executive after the company announced it was intending to shut 200 branches across the country with the loss of 3000 employees. This is despite increasing pre tax profits.
The reply letter from complaints manager, William Grady said: “At the present moment we have no plans to close our Ottery St Mary branch in Devon. I trust you will understand that this is subject to change in the future, as all of our branches are reviewed continually. However, you can be assured we will engage with the local community if the situation changes.”
When Leader of the liberal democrats, Tim Farron, in a tone dripping with sarcasm, tweeted at East Devon’s Conservative MP, Hugo Swire this week: “Well done on your award by the way. Richly deserved,” he was referring of course, to Mr Swire’s rather controversial knighthood for “political and public service.”
Devon County Council strengthened its policy on wildflower seeding but stopped short of taking a strong position against bee killing pesticides, at last week’s full council meeting.
The pollinator action plan which was debated last Thursday (28 July), was created following a motion by Cllr Gordon Hook who wanted the council to ban neonicitinoids (neonics) on its land.
On July 19 Mr Swire blogged that he was joining his “close friends” David Cameron and George Osborne on the back benches.
Ironically, just two weeks later Mr Cameron announces that our MP will be knighted. Quite a few people have been asking what Mr Swire has done to deserve this. To my knowledge he has never voted against the party line to support his constituents…..