HADFIELD SORTING OFFICE CLOSURE THREAT - Official Response From Royal Mail

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Many Hadfield residents have by now received official replies from Royal Mail (RM) who attempt to address concerns regarding the proposed closure of the Sorting Office. Our thanks to readers of this blog who forwarded copies of the said item which can be read above.

The matter hinges (according to the RM spokesperson) around the question of suitability of the Station Road premises which they state are "no longer fit for purpose" under Health and Safety guidelines.

The building was assessed by council H&S officer Mark Carlisle but during a meeting of residents last month, a Health and Safety Officer from the Communication Workers Union who represent postal workers stated that Hadfield is one of the safest Sorting Offices in the country.

So, what is the problem? If it is down to "lack of space" then surely, it will have always been so, the building hasn't suddenly decreased in size.

Does Hadfield post office need the latest design in sorting frames? Or, would we prefer to have our local posties happy in their jobs without the extra inconvenience of daily travel into Hyde and back out again twice a day?

If RM do, as the letter says, "consider the well-being of our staff to be of paramount importance" why did our local postal delivery workers feel that they had no option but to strike over these issues?

Whilst RM may well 'intend' to continue to offer the option for customers to collect mail from the Hadfield office we have absolutely no guarantee that this will happen or for how long. Indeed, the letter goes on to give a not-so-subtle get-out clause with the words, "however...a post office can close for any number of reasons" and, "we cannot guarantee that any post office will remain open indefinitely".

It should be heartening to be told that the sub-postmistress will continue to be paid for allowing customers to collect parcels from the post office but the reality is that renumeration for this will not be anything like what she receives for the Sorting Office side of the business. There is no doubt that the business will struggle to pay it's way without the substantial annual income derived from this aspect of the business.

Contrary to the claims in the letter, I suggest, Post Office Ltd., that you do have some control over whether the sub postmistress resigns/retires or not!

On a wider issue, what worries me is the unrelenting continuation of the trend to centralise everything at huge costs to jobs, the environment and people's lives when what we, as customers, residents, neighbours, and workers really need is for these services to WORK for US in our community.

LIGHTING THE WAY - BLOGGING TIP (2)

Another quick and hopefully useful tip for all you blogging newbies, like myself.

Sometimes it can be hard to find the site you're looking for on the web when there are millions of them around. However, if you know that you are specifically searching for a blogspot such as this, as opposed to a website (a blog will have the word blog or blogspot in its url address ie: the bar right at the top of your screen) then consider using a dedicated blogsearch tool such as http://blogsearch.google.com/

By using this facility, to ignore websites and search only for blogs you will find what you are after so much quicker.

If, for instance, you were to search for let's say 'Tintwistle Residents' and you googled it in the usual way at http://www.google.co.uk/ then you would currently find us at the bottom of page 1, sometimes on page 2.

By being more specific and using http://blogsearch.google.com/ you will find that typing in exactly the same search words, ie: 'Tintwistle Residents' brings us up at No1 in the list.

So you've arrived at your chosen site but now you are looking for something quite specific within the blog. How can you find your target without randomly clicking posts in hope?

Simple. At the top left there is a space to type in your search words and immediately to the right of this are the words 'SEARCH BLOG'. So if you want news about Station Road, for instance, just type those words in, click on 'SEARCH BLOG' and you will find that it brings up items on Ron Gregson's retirement and C.C.T.V. cameras. Similarly if you type in 'Post Office' it will find two blogposts on the subject for you.

As a blog develops and more and more posts get added, it becomes difficult and time consuming to search the blog manually, so searching in the manner suggested will bear fruit for the future.

One other time saving device on the same subject before I go.

If you find yourself searching for a website as opposed to a blog or you just don't know whether you're looking for one or the other, then instead of using a single search engine like Google or Yahoo, why not use a site that searches them all at once?

Yes such a thing exists and is a very useful tool to have. I personally use http://www.searchy.com/

Searchy will return results from 15 different search engines in the blink of an eye and list the top searches from each. It gives a greater variety of search because some sites might not be listed on Google or Yahoo but could still be picked up by other sites like MSN or Alta Vista for example. Happy searching.

NEXT RESIDENTS MEETING

Hi Everyone

Just a quick blog to make viewers aware that our next meeting is tomorrow evening at the usual time and venue (The New Lamp, Bankbottom, Hadfield at 8.00pm) As a general rule we meet the first Monday in each month, except when there's a Bank Holiday. All welcome.

If you live in Hadfield, you may be aware by now that the Post Office sorting depot is threatened with closure. Postmen themselves delivered the devastating news to virtually every household in Hadfield, putting in a shift to deliver thousands of leaflets after their own shifts finished last Tuesday and Wednesday. A copy of the leaflet and further details will be available in a following blog.

Whilst not the only lively local topic, it is one that we obviously need to discuss, with a view to helping reverse what appears to be an imminent threat. Officially the list of proposed closures will be unveiled on June 10th but the fact that union reps have acted so swiftly in getting out warning leaflets suggests very strongly that Hadfield is on that list.