FURTHER to your feature on Bulmer village shop (Gazette & Herald, November 19). It is such a shame that despite the hard work and enthusiasm of Pam at the Bulmer shop over the last 10-11 months it is now unfortunately closed.

We here in Bulmer are now without our only community asset, the village shop. On top of that, we have also lost our small but friendly post office, plus, of course, a place where Bulmer residents and visitors could pass the time of day. Apparently, the age of internet shopping enables society to bypass the human touch of supporting the local shop. Use it or lose it is an all too familiar epitaph these days it seems.

As a regular patron of Bulmer shop and post office, I am not saying that all one's everyday shopping needs could be acquired there (Pam would have been the first to agree with this I'm sure) but the shop did provide a good range (at competitive prices) of items suitable for most shoppers.

It would have only taken for each of us in the Bulmer area to spend a relatively small percentage of our weekly/monthly shopping expenditure at the village shop in order to ensure continuity of service there.

I hope a few people think on what has happened the next time an Asda (Wal-mart) or Tesco delivery van roars through the village. Not everyone can (or wishes to) shop the impersonal way on the internet. Not everyone can (or wants to) jump in a car every time the shopping beckons (some of us care about the environment more than that). Some of us appreciate the value of a living, thriving community. As I write Bulmer is most certainly not the latter.

Updated: 11:35 Wednesday, December 03, 2003