Wednesday August 7 | 2019
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‘Tonbridge Tree’ takes root in the town to spread positive feelings
HELPING HANDS Passers-by contributed their handprints to the NCS team’s Tonbridge Tree
Playing by the book? Local literary retailer is upset by chain’s strategy By Andy Tong andy@timesoftonbridge.co.uk AN INDEPENDENT bookseller on the High Street is crying foul over the tactics of retail chain WH Smith. Phil Holden, who owns Mr Books, has objected to a poster that the nationwide company posted in its window at Nos 35-37 High Street. It said: “We won’t be beaten on price. If you find a book cheaper in town we’ll refund the difference and give you 10 per cent off your next book purchase.” Mr Holden, whose shop is at No 142 High Street, responded on Twitter: “Seems like our WH Smith doesn’t like the competition in Tonbridge – basically us. “So is this corporate responsibility and how would you recommend we respond?” He also posted a link to a section on its website, where he quoted its ‘community engagement policy’.
It included the following: “In line with our Code of Business Conduct, we aim to make the communities in which we work better places to live and do business.” It said it would ‘seek to be sensitive to the local community’s culture and social and economic needs and encourage our employees to be involved with local communities to their mutual benefit’.
‘It’s just good business for companies to be good neighbours’ Mr Books has been open since 2005, and was taken over by Mr Holden two years ago in August 2017. He is an academic at the University of Brighton and teaches social marketing at a business school there. Mr Holden, whose store was named the best bookshop in Kent in last year’s
TEENAGERS from the National Citizen Service [NCS] are spreading their messages of hope in the town – and their latest is here to stay. The government project offers young people a four-week programme of activities designed to encourage social cohesion, social engagement and social mobility. One team of youths has posted signs on bridges encouraging people who are feeling depressed to be optimistic or seek help. Another group have been decorating pebbles with positive messages and images and leaving them around the town. These are part of an awareness and fundraising campaign for the mental health charity Mind UK.
Importance
Muddy Stiletto awards, told the Times: “I have an interest in ethical and social enterprise. It’s just good business for companies to be good neighbours. “Legally, limited companies are like persons with rights and responsibilities. “Smiths would, I suspect, be quick to assert their rights, but they (and many other large companies) seem slower to recognise their responsibilities.” He said: “The vast majority of businesses in the UK are SMEs [small and medium-sized enterprises]. “As consumers, many of us try to avoid those we don’t warm to, but sometimes we don’t have any choice. Like if the Post Office is based there.” The Post Office was relocated the the WH Smith premises when the old branch on Angel Walk closed in March 2017. Mr Holden added: “I think this promotional idea from WH Smith is misguided.
Now they have painted a striking, colourful mural in Priory Road near the railway station with a similar message of hope. It includes a tree laden with hand prints – known as the Tonbridge Tree – with many bystanders adding their own imprints. It is intended to highlight ‘the importance of oneself’, and includes contact numbers for charities who help those with mental health issues. NCS team member James Lipington told the Times they chose the name because ‘it’s fitting for how the whole community got involved in the project. “Paint companies, charities and local people have all contributed to the painting of the wall.” They picked the motif of the tree
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