I've lived in Stokey for just over three years and work in the international office of a university.

I'm happy to take leaflets round to local shopkeepers and have a chat with them, work on any stalls we plan and generally muck in.

I'd also be able to do some research to back our case. It was agreed at the first meeting that Lynne and I would work together to draw up a draft press release.

I have lived in Stokey since 1998, and am concerned at the prospect of a Tesco in the area, as I feel it will damage the local businesses which provide the village feel and vibrancy of N16.

The loss leader tactics on bread and milk and BOGOFs (Buy one get one free), funded by suppliers, will seriously damage these shops' profitability.

Other than Woolies, KFC and Sports World, the Stokey is chain free, and I feel it benefits from that. In fact Sports World is an eyesore that occupies what was London Pride, which was fabulous. But clearly the lease renewal was too expensive.

The main problem is that Landlords will want to raise lease prices as they come up for renewal and chains are an obvious target for these landlords.

While I was unaware of the meeting, so don't know your approach, but I'd suggest writing lots of letters, as opposed to emails to the Tesco HQ, as well as a visible campaign to raise awareness, and liase with other groups who have campainged against Tesco.

Look at Islington - 12 years ago it was full of independent shops, like Stokey, now it's a chain haven, and offers no local element to the local community that can't be found in any British High Street.

Starbucks decided that they didn't want to move here, and that was a major sucess - the camapaign focussed on the UK HQ to show they were not wanted.

As I'm sure you know, you need to get the FAQ's up, to show that you're a reasonable group looking to protect local interests, and I'll be willing to offer any support I can to this seemingly excellent campaing.

Hi Tom, i'm Paul, we were going to work on the leaflet together. My email is paulemoon at yahoo.com and we can get working on it
Paul

Sorry I missed the meeting last night. I'm happy to take some posters etc to local shops and talk to them - where can I pick them up from? Also, I'm freelancing at The Independent at the moment so can write and/or pitch stories.
Rosie (rosiewalkeruk at yahoo.co.uk)

My name is David. I have lived in Stokey for coming on 5 years and I'm a Technician/Artist. I won't stand for this, not one bit! I suggest a gig to raise some funds and awareness to fuel this campaign. Stokey is renowned for it's community spirit and a concentration of creative open minded folk. We should pool together our resources and set an example for other communities facing the same kind of corporate homogenisation. If we can't stop this process on our own doorstep what hope have we of stopping this assimilation happening elsewhere in the world? A CALL TO ARMS....NO TESCO IN STOKEY!!!!

I have lived in Stokey for 4 or 5 years and am a general technician by occupation meaning I'm pretty handy at most things technical, please contact me if you need technical help with anything concerned with the campaign.

The next thing I'm going to concentrate on is producing a sticker witht he web adress on to plaster the front of the proposed site with, and then perhaps a flyer with a bit more info we can hand out on the high street.

I will post both of these up on the resources page when they're ready.

Roger.