Chatbox

Cheshire East Council seems to get slated regularly here, but can I break the mould and praise them. Just a week ago, I reported via their website that three of the four street lights along the road to the canal wharf had stopped working. A van came out today and their staff fixed the fault. The lights are now working. Excellent service!

Audlem remains a vibrant, community-led village because people like Megan are prepared to go the extra mile. Remember use all local services to save them. Keep up the good work, you are doing a great job Thank you Megan!

It is cheering to see all the positive comments about Megan and I have to to praise her commitment to ensuring there is a still Post Office in Audlem. As Geoff Seddon pointed out, it was very difficult to get a full Post Office service back in the village when the old Post Office closed. There was a problem in finding suitable premises and (even more importantly) a shop owner willing to meet the Post Office's demanding requirements. It was only with Megan's determination to battle through all this that a Post Office was eventually reinstated in the village. Having a few days off after a year like 2020 or some small delays in the mail (which are totally outside Megan's control) should be nothing to complain about when for a long period people had to go to Woore, Market Drayton or Nantwich to get a full Post Office service. Audlem remains a vibrant, community-led village precisely because people like Megan are prepared to go the extra mile. Keep up the good work, Megan!

Thank you to everyone for your LLLovely comments, it has made my day to see so much support from the village. Now more than ever it's important that we look out and support each other as best we can.

No one is perfect, there is always room for improvement but rest assured that myself, Adam and the LLLovely team will continue to serve the community to our full capacity :) keep safe and take care.

Just want to say a big thank you to our 'posties'. It is I imagine harder for them since the old Post Office, which combined all the services, was closed.
They are out in all weathers and in my experience always have a smile or something cheering to say. Many thanks.

I remember the grim interregnum when we were without a Post Office. I imagine people are complaining about the general Post Office service not our local one. I for one still tend to think of the shop end and delivery end as being combined.
My only minor beef with the current arrangement is that it is too tempting! Lovely selection of chocolate delights and Snugbury's Ice Cream.
Megan always is patient (those who know me will realise she often has to be) and pleasant.

I fully support all the encouraging messages for the work Megan does for our village.
When one thinks of all the work required to manage ordering, organising, accounting etc. not just for the Post office side but also for the lovely chocolates, ice creams, greeting cards, stationary items and more, it is amazing Megan is able to have any time off! – though she has definitely earned it and no-one should complain about that.
Add to that, the stresses of the technology that Megan has to keep up with to process so much of what we need in terms of posting, banking etc. – there are not many people willing to take on this responsibility.

I am very grateful for all you do, Megan and am very sorry you have received such discouragement from some people. I hope they will think twice in future before acting in a way that could be seen as undermining your efforts that are so appreciated by the vast majority of us here in Audlem and surrounding villages.

I would also like to support Megan. I would happily send an email to Post Office Services , if I knew where to do it, to try to offset the complainers. At this time of being told not to travel and not wanting to go into a busier
Office like Nantwich, our little local post office has been an invaluable way of keeping in touch with family with little packets or parcels. A few days break after Christmas was well deserved.

When the original Post Office closed Heather Jones and I, on behalf of the Parish Council, spent many days/weeks trying to persuade The Post Office to look for a willing volunteer to take on the task of running a Post Office. The danger was that we would get a travelling Post Office on two or three days per week. Fortunately for the village, Megan stepped forward and has done a magnificent job ever since. All residents should be thanking Megan for the effort that she puts in. Please continue to support her.

Very friendly cat lurking around mount pleasant corner on woore rd. In very good condition, headed down towards Audlem. Very noisy and seems a little lost. Is this the same one?

We are so lucky to have Megan and the post office, she is always a delight to speak to, shame on the grump's in this world, you can't please all of the people all of the time :(

Hello Audlem. I was a Post Office worker for all my working life.
I was fortunate enough to enjoy the rapport with my customers the vast majority of the time, but inevitably there are those who are never satisfied.
Of course, this isn't confined to the Post Office. I remember being in Morrisons as a customer a few years ago, and a cashier being maligned because they were closed on Christmas day and the customer couldn't get fresh cream for her trifle.No thought that he young female cashier probably had a family including young children at home for whom Christmas day was very special.
Working in any area with the public will inevitably have it's ups and downs, but from personal experience the former will always be the greater.

Totally concur with the messages in support of Megan – a great service for the village – and the break was fully deserved.

Clearly, people do not realise how lucky we are to have a Post Office and Postmistress when so many villages have lost theirs. It needs our full support and we should show our thanks, gratitude and appreciation rather than complaining. Anyone who visited the shop on the run-up to Christmas will know how hard Megan was working and in difficult circumstances. Royal Mail has had its problems recently but that is not Megan's fault!

Regarding the farm bird scarer, it is a fact that huge numbers of birds can rob the farmer of his cattle feed and the crops that they grow.
At certain times of the year, we have trouble with wood pigeons pulling up emerging crops plus hundreds of Canada geese feeding off the corn and grass fields. For a week or two, a bird banger has to be used until the birds get the message and move off. Otherwise, it is like a thief stealing from your bank account. As with the starlings, there is an additional problem of soiling the animal feed with their droppings. Please bear with us.

I fully support Bob Mc comments. We ate fortunate to have a person prepared to provide such an essential service. If anyone deserved a post Christmas holiday it was Megan

I think everyone in the village should be thankful that Megan took on the resposibility to run a post Office in Audlem.
I use it quite a lot and I feel that we get a very good service. If the Post Office is closed for a well earned holiday then it doesn't take long to drive to Wybunbury or Market Drayton, after all that is what we had to do when we didn't have a Post Office.
Please stop moaning, I don't want to have to drive to another village if the Post Office service is withdrawn.

Surprisingly, even farmers have responsibilities to their neighbours, the environment and the law. Yes, farmers do an important job but so do many others and some of those will be working long night shifts (especially doctors,nurses,care workers and retail workers at the present time) and need to sleep during the day. The National Farmers' Union is very clear on this. " Use audible scarers as a last resort." ......... " Never use noisy scarers near buildings where people sleep or where quiet is important." Even townies and semi-urban types have certain rights. I have lived in Audlem for over thirty years and have never heard anything as loud as this. It seems that the farmer is mainly trying to deter starlings from flying over from Ireland.

Thank you Megan for your continuing to offer Audlem a Post Office service. It is too easy these days to comment anonymously and far too often the wrong people get caught up in the cross fire. And the chocolates are Llovely too.

Megan . Keep up the good work young lady . Above all don't be put off by the small moaning brigade . During these depressing you need a holiday. I thank you for your service. Well done

I have to agree with Chris on this one. I am currently working at the cricket club adjacent to the farm and have witnessed first hand the problems faced by the farmer trying to keep the migratory starlings from devouring his cattle feed.
Maybe an alternative solution can be found to satisfy the semi-urban dwellers amongst us who appear to have scant knowledge or concern of agricultural life and practices.
If enough the noise sensitive volunteers can be mustered a rota could be organized to stand around the affected areas of the farm dressed in their best Worzel Gummidge costumes. When the starlings look like mounting an attack all they would have to do is jump up and down flapping their arms thus keeping the noise nuisance to an absolute minimum.
If the idea is feasible I can be contacted to hire out the costumes as I have a plentiful supply.

Adrian, I enjoyed your article about the lonely swan. Astute observation, lyrical prose and a delight to read on a cold winters day.

Can I make a suggestion with the 'booming' noises.

If it is indeed a bird scarer being used at the farm by the cricket club. Can we maybe just leave the farmers to carry on doing their job? And stop complaining about countryside activities taking place in the actual countryside!

Given a lack of other noise at the moment with few cars on the road, planes in the sky, and general background noise, maybe, just maybe the sound may be travelling that little bit further.

Rather than making complaints to Cheshire East, let's just cut the farmers some slack for the important job they are doing.

Having just got in from a walk down Mill Lane, opposite Corbrook Court down to the canal and along back to the village, I was surprised to never be out of earshot of the 'booming' noises for the duration of the walk which is a fair way from Buerton. According to the NFU, noise disturbance is 'what an ordinary, reasonable person would consider unacceptable.' Factors taken in to account include time, frequency and duration. As quite a few people who I would consider ordinary and reasonable have expressed concerns about firework noise with a duration of a matter of minutes, surely these frequent disturbances seeming to last hours are what most people would deem unacceptable and a complaint to Cheshire East I think would result in action being taken (assuming Cheshire East ever take action over anything any more). At present when few are in their gardens or with windows open it is perhaps less troublesome, but the weather will change soon.

Further to Rachel Bailey's interesting post, I was pleased to discover that Cheshire East Highways have recently re-connected with FixMyStreet (fixmystreet.com), the website platform for reporting incidents such as potholes, drainage and lighting etc. Cheshire East were connected to it in the past but then disconnected from it for a while for some reason – I can't imagine why they would do this!
For those who are not familiar with FixMyStreet, it is very simple to use and not only forwards a report directly to the Local Authority, complete with its location, but also raises follow-up reminders to both parties. Having used FixMyStreet a few times in the past, I have found it very successful and would strongly recommend it.
I reported a large pothole (just one of a growing number) which I drove (dropped!) into last night on Woodhouse Lane, and within a few minutes received acknowledgements from both the website and Cheshire East Highways.
Of course, only time will tell as to whether these problems will be attended to but the more of us who use FixMyStreet, it can only help.