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Write a poem to stop Tesco/Sainsburys stores in Ledbury, Herefordshire

edited August 2011 in - Resources
There is a campaign to stop these super stores being built and all letters of protest are to be in verse!
In the Daily Mail today which mentions this it says there may be cash prizes
http://www.saveledbury.com/
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Comments

  • I may be slightly sceptical but I doubt a poem is going to stop the might of Tesco. If anything it trivialises the situation. I'd love it to work though as I think alternative protest is be brilliant and can very inventive.

    However many have tried and failed to block Tesco and with much more clout and much more money. I don't think that rhyme will fit the crime, this time.
  • The pen is mightier than the sword!
  • [quote=kateyanne]The pen is mightier than the sword![/quote]

    Yep but money is mightier than the pen.
  • Well, as a gimmick I suppose it's a bit of fun. But I can't help thinking that having to write a poem is going to deter an awful lot of people who would be prepared to simply sign a petition.
  • Brilliant. We've been there several times and it is unique - the oldest cobbled street in the UK, totally unspoilt, the shops using all local and accountable produce. A Tescos would be just - wrong.

    I don't know why this song popped into my mind, but if anyone can help make the next verse... or make this hastily compiled verse better...

    There's a market town (there's a market town)
    In the hills so green (in the hills so green)
    where the streets remain (where the streets remain)
    a medieval dream (a medieval dream)

    but the dream blew up
    quite unexpectedly...
    Now Tescos wants to trash the town's intact and timbered unique history...
  • There's a market town (there's a market town)
    In the hills so green (in the hills so green)
    where the streets remain (where the streets remain)
    a medieval dream (a medieval dream)

    but the dream blew up
    quite unexpectedly...
    Now Tescos wants to trash the town's intact and timbered unique history...

    But at least we can now get chickens, on Buy One Get One Free.
  • Hmm, chickens with elbow burn, you just have to look at the cheap chickens and see where they have had to stand on metal bars - they all have characteristic burns on their skin. You are eating a torture victim.

    All the residents (all the residents)
    who valued its charms (who valued its charms)
    were too civilised (were too civilised)
    to rise up in arms (to rise up in arms)

    penned poems of love
    to Ledbury tenderly...
    while Tesco tried to trash the town’s intact and timbered unique history...
  • I'm not sure about the Tesco line. I can't do music lyrics...
  • [quote=Liz!]they all have characteristic burns on their skin. You are eating a torture victim. [/quote]


    It was a joke Liz.
  • I know. But I'm very sensitive about torture victims.
  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilly,_Gilly,_Ossenfeffer,_Katzenellen_Bogen_by_the_Sea
  • I have the lyrics seared into my head, but I don't know if my last line fits in the space, I'd appreciate knowing! I THINK all the verses were repeated and there's one final one...
  • edited August 2011
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWjTmXT58nk

    'Gilly Gilly Ossenfeffer Katzenellenbogen by the Sea'
    1-2=3-4==5-6-7-8====9-10-11-12-13-14=15=16=17

    Now Tescos wants to trash the town's intact and timbered unique history...
    1====2-3====4===5===6===7===8====9-10=11==12-13===14=15=16-17-18

    Hang on, I'm going to post something else in a minute!
  • 'Xilly Gilly Xssenfeffer XatzenellenXogen by the Xea'

    Now Xescos wants to Xrash the town's inXact and timbered Xnique Xistory...

    I've put an X where the stress seems to go. Any help?
  • Unfortunately these big stores also employ big numbers. Flexible hours allow for variable shifts that accommodate childcare etc.

    My small, and historically important, town is small enough to have a smallish Co-op and independant stores too. Tesco is 10 miles away, on a route that many pass on commutes. They sell products in much larger sized packaging that are far, far cheaper than in my smaller Co-op.

    I don't drive especially to Tesco but I will pop in for bulk items if I'm passing. As much as I want (and do) try support my local businesses I can't afford to pay their prices when there are cheaper options.

    As we're all strapped for cash, simple economics will come into play - supply and demand.

    My area copes with a large Tesco nearby - it doesn't have to kill a town. The fight against these stores should have begun decades ago.

    Sorry, was that supposed to rhyme?
  • [quote=Liz!]I know. But I'm very sensitive about torture victims.[/quote]
    Me too Liz, still don't see the problem with joking about it though.


    The thing is when you only have small local shops they charge you a fortune because they know you have no choice to shop there. So they are often as bad as the big stores.
  • BB I'd say that was free verse!
  • Free? Every little helps!
  • Well... the people who moved in there presumably did so in full knowledge of what was available. The people who have lived there always will hardly know any different. Small shops do NOT always mean higher prices, that's just something big shops say. We have found shopping in smaller shops is actually cheaper - because you can buy as much as you want, you don't have to have stuff in the sizes decided by the supermarket. In fact our daughters friend recently went into a small corner shop and got various spices etc loose, and several other items, and when in the queue found she only had £1.97 in her purse. She decided to see how many of the items she could get when she got to the till, and found the answer was all of them, with change!

    There are other towns nearby with larger supermarkets. And it is one of the very few places left in the country (if not the only place in the country) without any chain shops- the atmosphere there is unique, and instead of allowing Tescos or Sainsbury in I think we should be preserving the nature of this historic town. Because supermarkets DO shut smaller shops, they have a supply system which is very ungreen, very unfair to their suppliers (particularly Tesco) and very soon now we are all going to have to go the other way anyway - shop small, local and grow small and local.
  • I wonder how many of these people added their voices or support to other towns and villages who also protested over the years? It's fair enough saying this is the last untouched town, But maybe that's the case because they didn't care about the spread until it touched them.

    I'm no great fan of supermarkets, or small shops for that matter. Both have their own evils and both have their own merits. I think there is a place for both and sadly now a need for both.
  • [quote=SilentTony]The thing is when you only have small local shops they charge you a fortune because they know you have no choice to shop there. So they are often as bad as the big stores. [/quote]

    I paid ten pounds for a little bottle of kids sun cream once, in Wales, when there was the only that shop around, unless you got in your car and drove several miles.

    Must admit, I stared at it for many minutes, at the dust it had collected after sitting, ignored, on the shelf for gawd knows how long, with her from Royston-Vasey licking her licks and breathing down my neck, positioned behind the counter.
  • Unfortunately where we are which is on the edge of a city, the only food shop within walking distance is the co-operative and I would take a Sainsbury or Tesco any day. Co-op is expensive and limited in its choice.

    The other thing is that we don't have any little shops either. So I have to drive or catch the bus to buy stuff.
  • Co-op is expensive? We have one in our village and it's very much the same as Sainsbury's in Bristol.
  • I agree, Liz, we have a Tesco and a Co-op near us and sometimes I find that the Co-op is cheaper also their fruit and veg are fresher.
  • They are also much better with their suppliers and thinking about Fairtrade etc.
  • edited August 2011
    I don't think we can afford to be complacent with prices. Some shops will catch you out.

    A Milky Way in my Co-op is 19p more expensive than Tesco. I know the item is irrelevant but it is an example of how some pricing structures make no sense.

    They recently had salmon half price but the portions were almost half the size they usually are, so that was hardly a bargain. Tesco had a half a salmon for half price, so I bought that and then cut it up - 12 large steaks costing 85p each for the freezer.

    As much as I'd like to support the ethics of the Co-op I'm not sure I can afford to.
  • We can't afford it but we do. Tesco would be much cheaper, but it means other people's misery and I'm not happy with that.
  • That's where the quagmire of responsibility comes into play though. We can sit in comfort and say we only want ethical foods to our high ethical standards, and rightly so. But it's and unequal equation no matter how you look at it. On one side your shopping habits may put less of a moral burden onto your own shoulders knowing you have been responsible if you can afford it, however that scale may tip in another direction because of your actions.

    If we resist cheaper alternatives and shun more forceful capitalist models of shopping we may inadvertently bring misery on to other groups. There is no fair trade for low income families, no moral line of comfort for people on or below the poverty line. If we tell one group that we are not allowing a certain type of shop that will benefit them how does that sit with our own ethical viewpoint? One way or another through its very nature capitalism has casualties. These may be people who are mistreated in producing our goods, people who are paid unfairly for selling us our goods or even squeezed out of business for growing our goods.

    A parent who has so little money coming in that a few pence here and there would ruin their household budget cannot afford in real terms the ethical choice set out by other people. And that's the kick. It's all well and good considering farmers and producers in third world countries, but should that be at the cost of our neighbours and even their children? The problem is capitalism and idealism don't make great dance partners. We can make small allowances, give a little consideration but eventually and inevitably there will always be somebody who suffers through the industry of food production. Usually it is those in the chain that have little money to spare on either end and it seems we can only make one group better off by causing hardship to the other.

    So the point isn't to protest against the building of Tesco or whatever. The point is to make sure that a more cooperative feel is built into food production and purchase. Otherwise either monetary greed or moral greed will cause suffering as they usually do.
  • Co-op has some good one-off bargains, but generally I find them more expensive than Tesco. Sainsbury, to me, seems to have become more expensive than ever these days.

    Co-op's fruit and veg is not always good, their bananas always taste bitter, and their broccoli is cut with a huge stalk, making it weigh more, that I refuse to buy it there. They seem to be the mainstay in Wales.
  • I like the stalk on broccoli.
  • I use the stalk when I make a stock for veggie soup.
  • I'm impressed! I've never, ever made soup.
  • Oooh, BB! Soup is yummy, very good for you, AND... you lose weight eating it. You do! Proper scientific studies and all. You feel less hungry after eating soup.

    They did an experiment to show how it work on a TV programme a little while ago. They took a group of fit young people. They gave half a roast meal, and water to drink. They gave the other half soup, made of exactly the same ingredients.

    They did x rays or scans on them and it showed that the group who ate the soup still had mainly full stomachs hours after eating their meal, when the roast meal half had fully digested their meal. The soup lot did not feel hungry.

    the reason is that the water in the meal is mixed in with the food, and it slows down digestion of it.

    We have roast chicken on Sunday, chicken with salad on Monday, soup on Tuesday. If there's only one of you you can make a chicken last for weeks.
  • Oh - it's also incredibly easy to make.
  • edited August 2011
    [quote=Baggy Books]I'm impressed! I've never, ever made soup. [/quote]

    I'm astounded. I thought everyone made soup. :)

    edited to say: I use a hand blender.
  • [quote=Liz!]you can make a chicken last for weeks. [/quote]

    You can also make it last for months if you don't kill it straight away, just cut off a leg here for this week, a breast there for next week ....
  • BB, i recommend Beetle soup

    try it :)

    I'm soooo sure you;ll like it
  • It's even more easy now Heinz put ring pulls on their cans, no need for a tin opener ;)
  • I do sometimes, dora. My son prefers it anonymous. But I like stuff in my soup, especially chicken soup. With barley. And potato. And carrot, and onion, and anything else left over.
  • You can't eat Heinz after making your ow, it tastes of cornflour thickener and salt and sugar and tin.
  • I like leg over soup too Liz
  • Lego in your soup?
  • Lego man in my soup - ooocher!
  • I still like Heinz tomato, especially if I have a cold. It's what my mum always gave me as a kid when I was ill. My daughter asks for that too if she's ill. I prefer my own soup but Heinz is really like a nurse. they should get Mr Heinz in charge of curing cancer, he'd have it in a tin and on the shelf in weeks.
  • I adore Heinz tomato.

    My children love it too.
  • My children do too. It makes my tongue curl now, I think I'm too used to a salt freeish diet. They have taken some salt out though, it's MUCH better than it was.
  • You can cure that by adding your own salt. That's what I do. I buy low salt food knowing it's healthy then add some salt for flavour. that way I'm keeping healthy but having tasty food.
  • How odd you are, Tony.
  • Odd things are cool. Like that sock that disappears in the washing machine. You don't know but it's escaped down the pipes and is living a high life on the seas crossing the world and having such adventures. If that's what odd is all about I'm glad I'm not safe in a drawer, feeling lonely and never taken out unless some rushed Mondays another odd sock is all they can find to match me with.
  • LizLiz
    edited August 2011
    Actually, haven't they just decided that salt isn't so bad for you after all, unless you have a really bad problem?
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