David Keen writes:
On the grapevine yesterday….
“I have just been told that this morning the locks on the door of Newcastle shop have been changed, and a notice has been placed on the door by the Interim Managers re the Charity Commission investigation.”
Can anyone else confirm this? Is there any news from the other shops?
It would make sense, with the Charity Commissioners taking control of St. Stephen the Great assets. If true, it may also show that, as far as the CC is concerned, the change of name last year to ENC Management was a smoke and mirrors exercise designed to get SSG out of its financial obligations.
There is possibly another SSG asset parked near Durham Cathedral, so if you see this go up for auction in the name of the Charity Commissioners, please give generously.
Meanwhile if you see anyone fiddling with the locks on a former SPCK shop, please ask what they’re doing. If they represent the Charity Commissioners, then bless them loudly. If they try to disguise a Texan accent and have a van with the engine running parked outside, then be suspicious.
SPCK/SSG: News, Notes & Info 
“If they try to disguise a Texan accent…” and you have money in your pocket – get out of there as fast as you can.
No longer doubting. Saw a notice from the Interim manager pasted on the door of the said shop.
seems salisbury had the locksmiths as well, they were there for ages, not sure if they were able to enter shop,
Makes me want to check the Companies House website to see if ENC has been annexed by the CC.
Former staff should probably alert the CC anyway about paperwork: we heard from one shop of boxes of personal files simply left to blow with the breeze, which thankfully fell into the right hands. If any of your personal details were kept on file at a shop, then it might be worth asking the Charity Commissioners to either return any relevant files or shred them.
I understand that a Locksmith was hovering around the Chester shop also…..dont think they managed to get in though….
Annie, just to have a laugh…on the cartoonchurch blog there was a description of how the Lincoln shop was broken into. Forgive the flashbacks.
You can sort of read the Lincoln story over on Melanie C’s blog: Just to let you all know that the Lincoln shop was open today…
I can confirm that the locks have been changed in Newcastle I passed on Friday afternoon as they were accessing the store.
I thought they might mean Change the SOCKS
to staunch the Brewery smell-
or maybe it was Clang the Stocks?
(Yes, that would do as well).
Since then, I read, it`s Change the Locks;
and that could work. They`d strut:
old PhiBre coiffed in dreadlocks and
Mark in a convict cut!
The Charities Commission, though,
are locking up shop doors.
There`s very little books inside,
or gifts. Just soiled shop-floors.
Without converting England
M and P lie low elsewhere –
for charity begins abroad.
Cue joblessness; despair.
Like ASBO, I`m feeling under the smelly sock of British summer weather with winter attitude.
Mousey, it’s called “cold anger”. It’s what happens when you deal with predators.
Really, shouldn’t all of this have happened a year ago? The Brewers had unfairly dismissed most of the former SPCK staff; they’d closed a number of shops; they’d falsely claimed bankruptcy in the US and been denied the SPCK name. So former staff, lawyers, suppliers, customers have suffered while if the Charities Commission had been able to act sooner, a lot of pain could have been eased, and resurrection commenced.
Silent cough Valiant. This shouldn’t have happened at all. The SPCK should have had some bloggers on their governing board.
Sorry spelling and grammar incorrect. It was supposed to be “chopping board”. That’s what happened to the staff of the SPCK to put it not so politely.
Does anyone have details of the contact between SPCK and the Brewers? I know they were given certain amount of stock and a few shops with the rest to follow a few years later if things went according to plan. The SPCK name was removed, the Brewers’ failed to get any where near the required standard. So what will SPCK do with the rest of what the Brewers Grimm were to get?
Doubt the SPCK would have anything to say right now. Not until there is a legal settlement. Hopefully when the dust settles some shops will be re-opened run by those who know what they are doing. Not much comfort for those booksellers who were fired or those who lost a lot of money trying to keep some bookshops going.
Do you think they’ve changed the locks at all stores then? I’ll pop down to Worcester at lunch time and see whether anything has happened there. Any excuse to meet the wife for lunch! 🙂 (If she’ll have lunch with me!)
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