Adrian Hollister - Local Issues

Snow in Brightwalton

nospam@example.com (Adrian Hollister) — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 08:03:00 +0100

A good 3 inches of snow here in Brightwalton this morning. It stopped snowing at about 1am and was followed by some showers until about 3am. Whilst we have lost a bit of the snow we had a 1am last night, there is still a good a crunchy layer. There is lots of ice out there, so please all take care.

Why are people shocked when a profit driven water company puts up the prices?

nospam@example.com (Adrian Hollister) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 18:09:45 +0100

Thames Water have announced a nearly 7% rise in prices in West Berkshire and both the people and press are complaining over the hike. I do wonder if these are the same people that spoke up against privatisation of our nation's assets? It's yet another reality check - private profit driven companies are out there to make money. Thames Water are looking to make money out of you. There are not operating for the betterment of society, to reduce prices, nor are they looking to invest heavily in their obligations without taking your money first. It's all about profit - and you are providing it.

Update on campaign to improve A34 near East Ilsley

nospam@example.com (Adrian Hollister) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 14:37:00 +0100

The response to this campaign has been amazing, with even the most hardened pro-speeder agreeing that there is a problem on this stretch of road. I would also back a suggestion from the Newbury Today forum, which is to introduce variable speeds on the section of road with the variability based upon the conditions ahead. A common theme with all suggestions though is to ensure that they are actively monitored and managed; something the recent 'no overtaking' for lorries trial seems to have failed on. Average speed cameras along the section would meet these needs.

But, please remember, that whilst reducing the accidents on the A34 is a critical thing to do, we are also trying to stop reckless and thoughtless diversion driving through our Downland villages, and we are trying to protect the reputation that West Berkshire is an amazing place to live (and not an accident blackspot).

p.s. there are also plenty of statistics and real speed related detail from this document:

http://20splentyforus.org.uk/UsefulReports/TRLREports/trl421SpeedAccidents.pdf - Page 2 is a good start. Where you can find details such as "The percentage reduction in accident frequency achievable per 1mile/h reduction in average speed is between 2-7%"

Milk and More Reivew - get yourself a local milkman

nospam@example.com (Adrian Hollister) — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 10:43:00 +0100

Ok, it's been a while since I've seen a local milkman. But Milk and More and seeing a bit of a come back. Being in the middle of no where there are no local shops, so when I found out that Milk and More deliver out here I thought that I would give it a try. Our local branch is based in Newbury and they deliver three times a week to the downland area. They have a good web site and if you order before 9pm, they can deliver any extras the next day.

I've switched now from loads of darn plastic bottles of milk (we are a big family) to some nice glass pint bottles - something that can be reused and not just recycled. They also do organic milk in the glass pint bottles, so that's what we have. So the big question - is it more expensive that Tesco? Simple answer is yes. More complex and honest answer is No. But why no? Ethics aside, if I took a regular trip to the local shops I generally tend to buy things I don't need - chocolate, that two for one bargain and similar. With the milkman service I buy what I need. Bread, milk, cheese and some other basics.

So has this worked for us? For sure. It's working out very well. Things turn up just when I need them and I don't need to take that 'could be expensive' trip to the local shops. I've not been woken up by the milkman and the quality of the service is second to none. The thought of having bottles that can be reused appeals too. My plastic recycling bag is half empty now and this has to be a good thing. Therefore, it's a big thumbs up for Milk and More as a local milkman here in West Berkshire's Downlands.

A34 mashed up again - who is going to fix it?

nospam@example.com (Adrian Hollister) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 10:56:00 +0100

Another big one today at East Ilsley. Nightmare for us around here. There are essentially three key roads feeding the down lands - the A34, the A338 and the B4494. When the A34 is mashed, traffic diverts to the other two - neither of which are designed for this level of traffic and all of which get bottled up towards Wantage or through the narrow Downland roads.

It seems that because its on the border of Berks and Oxfordshire, no one takes responsibility - or only takes it on 'their side'. I can't find any evidence that west berks and oxfordshire have sat down independently or together to fix the problem or raise the issue with the Highways Agency. Can't help thinking that the Tories in West Berks won't do anything about it because they rely upon voters in the 'bmw' classes who I see regularly breaking speed limits for fun and often causing these very problems.

Not helped I'm sure by two different fire and rescue services, two different ambulance services etc - and now that their budgets are squeezed they are not even prioritising proactive or pre-emptive activities.

The effect on the Downlands is mostly traffic - speeding traffic and the pollution they cause racing through our narrow lanes, disrespecting our local communities with anti-social panic driving as they try to get back on their original route. My year living in West Ilsley was hell - traffic hell. You've no idea if you going to be able to get out of the drive way, to school, works or the shops, and certainly no way of knowing if your kids are safe cycling in the village. This must be a nightmare in East Ilsley. Great Shefford is often hit too with cars racing down the A338 diverting around the A34 accidents.

Personally I think there should be a 50mph zone from the M4 to the Oxfordshire border, and it must be monitored by average speed cameras (the only thing drivers seem to respect). By doing so, I recon 99% of all the accidents on that road will go away, the traffic will flow more timely and the Downlands will be spared the anti-social driving of the panicked drivers searching for a diversion.

Debt soars in West Berkshire as the squeeze in the middle hits

nospam@example.com (Adrian Hollister) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 07:46:00 +0100

I applaud Newbury Weekly News for raising issues such as the growing personal debt mountain, but I wonder why they ignore the fact that this has been created by the policies of the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats in Government? They are deliberately using money from ordinary people to pay off their banking chums - the end result is that the majority of people have growing debt mountains - debt accrued to pay off the pure greed of the Tory and Lib Dem's old boy networks in banking and big business. Sickening.

http://www.newburytoday.co.uk/News/Article.aspx?articleID=18858

David Akerman breaks balloon height record and puts Brightwalton on the map

nospam@example.com (Adrian Hollister) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 12:26:55 +0100

David Akerman has put Brightwalton on the map by breaking the UK amateur record for an unmanned balloon flight - he got the balloon to 40,986m. Congratulations to David - it would be good if you could chat to the school - I would imaging many of the kids would be excited to hear about it and see a balloon!

View Larger Map

"Congratulations again to David - an excellent achievement", Adrian Hollister.

BT Customer Services - better than I thought

nospam@example.com (Adrian Hollister) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 22:06:23 +0100

I've used Phone Coop for my standard phone line for ages now, it's a great service and if I need anything I can talk to a real person who is genuinely interested in helping. Their broadband options though are just not up to my high broadband consumption and where we live, there are no real options other than BT or another provider running over the BT network. So BT was my default option as their network does a good job at higher bandwidth uses, like iPlayer, Youtube and the other things my kids go through in their free time. I switched from BT residential broadband to BT business broadband as I started working more from home and the wifes book-keeping business took off. BT have generally been ok, most things just work and I rarely need to speak to them to get problems fixed.

Moving home apparently was a thing too far for BT Business. They did move my broadband service and when I arrived in the new home there was a new BT Hub and details emailed. Smooth going so far. But why would a BT business customer need a residential hub and hang on, what's this - a new contract? So a quick phone call to some anonymous BT retail helpline number (on all my new paperwork) left me confused and not really understanding what changed and what went wrong. So working on the assumption that some serious misunderstanding had occurred I redialled the BT business line from the original contract and explained my situation.

To my great surprise the person on the phone listened to me, summarised my problem back to me and told me they would call around the various BT departments and get back to me within a hour. Oh yea, I thought, I've heard this all before. So I put the phone down and started to recap and document what had gone on so far. After about 10 mins the phone rang again - it was BT. The same chap who I spoke too a few minutes before. He not only accepted responsibility for the problem, but he had fixed it too. Sorting out what must have been a myriad of departments within BT and fixing any new/old contract issues to boot. So, it will take 5 days to switch us back to BT Business Broadband - so perhaps this blog entry is premature, but so far I cannot fault BT Business Broadband - if only the residential service was as efficient.

Adrian Hollister

Changing address - the list of the easy and difficult to deal with companies

nospam@example.com (Adrian Hollister) — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 12:01:00 +0100

Darn it, it's frustrating trying to change your address details. So here is my good list and bad list from experience of my recent move and from feedback from friends in a general 'coffee around a table' rant about things that annoyed us...

The 'not good at change of address customer services' list...
-Next (all reported call dropped or engaged tone)
-Natwest (for trying to up sell new services and forcing redirection around the company just to get you to buy something new you don't need)
-Which? (cos you can't change anything on-line)

The 'good at change of address customer services' list...
-Various banks
-BT
-Phone Co-op
-Argos

Conservatives slam Wind Turbines as 'Crime against nature'

nospam@example.com (Adrian Hollister) — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 00:39:08 +0200

Following yet another set of plans for a Wind Turbine next to the M4 at Lambourn, is this something that we must accept as part of our future or discard the idea as a “crime against nature.” (Anthony Stansfeld - Con, Kintbury)?

Follow the discussion on the Newbury Today Forum

How much carnage before West Berks make the A34 a 50mph zone?

nospam@example.com (Adrian Hollister) — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 15:33:48 +0200

Yet again the A34 was blocked north bound by another accident. There are so many accidents on the A34 in West Berkshire between the M4 and the Oxfordshire border it's insane. Why can't West Berkshire Council get off the backsides and call for a controlled 50mph zone in force in this area? What are they waiting for... deaths?

Social Networking + Text = social communication

nospam@example.com (Adrian Hollister) — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 18:09:13 +0200

The riots have finally shown to the older generation that there is a newer generation out there making use of much faster and more efficient communications mechanisms. Social communications is not always about pure fact, but collective fact. What appears to be ad-hoc or anarcharistic gatherings are just crowd sourcing - new ways of communicating that appears unfathomable for someone outside of the 'Internet' generation.

Brightwalton School Sixth Year leavers head off in Limo

nospam@example.com (Adrian Hollister) — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 03:41:48 +0200

This years leaving ceremony for the sixth year leavers at Brightwalton Primary School ended in style with two limo's taking the class out for dinner. Champagne provided in the form of fizzy apple juice. Added a picture of the girls in one of the limo's below. Best of luck to all those sixth year students moving up to secondary school.

Turn a bank into a old folks home for UK Uncut

nospam@example.com (Adrian Hollister) — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 00:07:59 +0200

Turn a bank into an old folks home. Newbury, Sat 7th May 2011 10:30 #ukuncut http://t.co/XSJRzJc

Brightwalton Easter Fete

nospam@example.com (Adrian Hollister) — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 10:27:00 +0200

I was pleased to have face painted at Brightwalton Easter Fete last weekend. We raised over £500 for Brightwalton Primary School. Prize winners were:

Egg decorating competition:
-Olivia Mathison won the pre-school
-James Leach won the Infants
-Mary Odling won the Juniors

Darcey Flemming won the 'How many eggs' competition

Mary Odling won the 'name the bunny' competition

There was face painting, tombola, pansy planting, card decorating, buy a cake and refreshments, 4 stalls - virgin vie, jewllery, scarfs, phoenix cards as well as a lollipop game.

Notes:

1. This event is was run and organised by the local community of Brightwalton.
2. Brightwalton Primary School web site can be found here: http://www.westberks.org/GroupHomepage.asp?GroupID=2563
3. More on Brightwalton village can be found here: http://brightwalton.org.uk/
4. Adrian Hollister will face paint without charge for local charities and good causes. Please use Contact Me on http:/www.adrianhollister.com for more information.

Great walking in Snelsmore Common

nospam@example.com (Adrian Hollister) — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 18:36:00 +0100

Had a great walk today in Snelsmore Common. Kids, dogs and everyone had a good time. Interesting to see how things are now starting to blossom already. It will be spring soon.

Snelsmore Common in March 2011

Snelsmore Common

Is West Berks rural part of the BT Infinity broadband upgrade?

nospam@example.com (Adrian Hollister) — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 04:00:58 +0100

I wonder if any West Berkshire villages will be upgraded to BT Infinity? Broadband speeds in the rural areas of West Berkshire are terrible, often 2Mb or less, and none of the exchanges have anything other than basic 'up to 8Mb' type service. If BT need a priority for the upgrades it should not be those in towns, but those in rural not spots or slow spot. Anyway, you can check to see if we have been part of the upgrade from this site http://www.racetoinfinity.bt.com.

(update 7th Jan 2011 - no West Berkshire exchange made it into the top few)

Fire at Holiday Inn Plymouth

nospam@example.com (Adrian Hollister) — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 12:57:00 +0100

At 00:12 this morning the fire alarm went off at the Holiday Inn in Plymouth. When opening the hotel room door it was clear that there was smoke inside the hotel building - not visible, but you could certainly smell it. Most of us departed in an orderly way to the outside and watched as the smoke turned to flames and two fire engines turned into what appeared to be 10. It was certainly all very well done by the services there, but not so great from the Holiday Inn staff who did a role call right in front of the burning building and then sent us through the dense smoke to Jury's Inn. Good to see that the manager from the Holiday Inn eventually took charge and found rooms for people. I found a bed by 03:00. Thankfully it appears that no one was seriously hurt.

There is a bit more information on the BBC News web site http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-11782607.

The original video is also available on YouTube.

Ibex in Chaddworth Closed

nospam@example.com (Adrian Hollister) — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 14:36:00 +0100

It looks like the Ibex in Chaddleworth has closed. Chaddleworth's pub, The Ibex, has won several awards including South East Entertainment Pub of the Year 2010 and West Berks CAMRA Community Pub 2009 but has been surrounded in controversy when the landlady Julia Jones stole over £15,000 from the village post office effectively closing the branch. I went to the pub quite often when I first moved into the area, but poor, grumpy and what can best be described as stroppy service drove me and others away. It was always going to be doomed when the landlady stole from our post office and then went around boasting about how she got away with it. The locals effectively just stopped going there.

At least the change will be good for our community and I hope to see the Ibex re-open without the taint of the previous tenants.

If you want a great pub in the Downlands area then Adrian Hollister's recommendation is The Stag in Leckhampstead - great food and a great atmosphere (relaxing and comfortable).

Chimney swept - have you had yours done yet?

nospam@example.com (Adrian Hollister) — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 18:04:00 +0200

Just had the Chimney swept. A nice chap from Sootys in Great Shefford came along and sorted us out. We've had quite a few sweeps over the years, but it's good to find someone that knows what they are doing, provides documentation and is nice to talk to - so thanks to Simon Watkins from Sootys for a great job. If your looking for a chimney sweep in West Berkshire call him on 01488 649028 or on his mobile 07787 416005. Alternatively look on the NACS web site here.

Vodafone just don't quite get the parking problem

nospam@example.com (Adrian Hollister) — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 11:47:00 +0200

The article in last weeks Newbury Weekly News discusses the problem with the parking at Vodafone in Newbury. Essentially all contractors have been asked to park away from the main site and catch a bus. Vodafone's response to the problem is an obvious and typical corporate response - we will put on more buses between the sites.

Vodafone could consider a different approach:

1. Favour local resources that have access to the bus services offered by Vodafone - local jobs for local people. Put this in their contract terms to all firms supplying contract workers and take away the additional parking spaces.

2. Promote home working - this improves quality of life. If 1 in 3 people at Vodafone requiring a parking space worked at home the problem would go away.

3. Move the offices from a road/car dependant location to one easily served by buses and trains (oh hang on - they have just done the opposite of this :S)

Of course, there is still the question of these massive numbers of Vodafone buses running around mostly empty. Perhaps Vodafone can consider allowing people to travel in them free along the routes they travel? This could save off-set an enormous number of cars between Thatcham, Newbury and surrounding areas; and would be an enormous give back from Vodafone to the community of Newbury and West Berkshire.