Brainwave about fireworks,perhaps.

[kofihorse]

Peeps, I don't know if this is a daft idea but I just wondered what would happen to the supermarkets who sell fireworks if we all wrote to them and said we would not be buying any pet food or supplies from them unless they agreed to stop selling fireworks altogether? They must surely make a lot more money from petfood than from fireworks? What do you all think?

[jill]

Sounds like a good idea to me Kofihorse, and also include some farm shops. Ours all do equine and pet supplies as well as farm goods....... and fireworks too. Thinking of Countrywide, Wynnstay and the like, for those of you who know them, and the horse market is a lucrative part of their business judging by the prices they charge.

[cesca]

Definitely worth a try. Jill very good point about the countrywide type gaffs, the money they make on fireworks at certain times of the year is nothing compared to the massive income they get from us on horsey goods all year round. I think we should give it a go.

[kas]

We could copy the idea all around the Net on our discussion groups and mailing lists... Maybe a standard letter for people to copy or alter?
Or... a couple of us could write to the companies and tell them that this is going to happen, and ask them to confirm whether or not they will be selling fireworks in 2006. So that we know if they go on the "approved" or "blacklist"?
I bet this means I'd have to stop going to Aldi - aaargh!

[sharon]

I just keep hoping for rain on the most likely nights that people feel the need to let them off, heavy, cold rain is the best ;D

[kofihorse]

Here is a draft of a possible letter, feel free to amend it as you think.

Dear ..............,

I am writing to you as part of a public campaign to stop the suffering of animals injured and traumatised each year by fireworks. As a pet owner and therefore a purchaser of pet food and supplies all year round, I have decided to withdraw my custom from those shops which continue to sell fireworks.

Although realising that it is within the law for you to retail fireworks, I would be grateful to hear from you whether you intend to continue doing so.

Yours sincerely etc

So you think this might work, peeps? Worth doing anyway?

[kofihorse]

Forgot to say that I think we could start a list of places to write to:-

Tesco, Morrisons, Asda, Lidl - any more? And I think we should write to each individual store manager because they must have some say in what they sell. I don't think it would be a good idea to just write to the main headquarters, we want the idea to spread all over the country.

[annahindley]

How about adding in,

"I am just part of a much larger group of like-minded individuals, and we are coming together in order to put the weight of our combined "pet-food pounds" behind our opinion. We are an ever-growing group, and we intend to compile a list of those retailers willing to offer their support by withdrawing fireworks from sale, before launching a campaign in the national media. "

Just so it sounds less like one angry person?

[jor]

great idea and I am fully in support of preventing sales of fireworks in supermarkets etc, however I highly doubt its going to do anything, which is a shame. Unless everyone withdraws from buying ANYTHING from shops which sell fireworks and its done on a scale of thousands (I spend on average 40 pounds per week in Tesco, if a thousand people withdrew from buying anything from tesco for a few months there may be a bit of an exclamation mark...)

Maybe target one set of stores at a time, eg start with tesco, building a large basis of people who are willing to not buy anything (and I mean ANYTHING) from tesco stores (including petrol) until Tesco agree to rethink thier policy on selling fireworks, making a big to do about it with the newspapers, so at least there will be a large disruption, even if not a stop on sale of fireworks.
If this was done for each group of shops over a period of months there may be a bit of a shift towards not selling fireworks?

Just my thoughts.

Having fallen from a horse (whilst pregnant though I didnt know) after having a firework thrown at me by a boy aged approx 10yrs and seeing the death, stress and pain fireworks have caused in recent years I am all for a complete ban on fireworks except for at professionally organised displays.

[jill]

It's a really good idea, but it might be better approaching it through MPs, lobbying for a legal ban on unauthorised amateur use of fireworks. The big stores won't do it unless it really hits their margins, and so long as so many of them do sell them, they know that we are going to struggle to find somewhere to shop. Getting a legal ban would ensure that not only are they not sold, they're not used either.
I suggest we all email or write to our MPS insteaad, citing as many examples of incidents as we can - what do you all think - stores or parliament?

[kofihorse]

Jill, people should of course write to their MP's and MSP's but there are already pressure groups dealing with changing the law on fireworks, as evidenced by the recent legislation. We can all support this as ultimately there may be a further change but my idea is to start getting changes made locally.

This shouldn't become a polarised arguement, the two are different means to the same end. I think local stores are much more likely to take notice of local people changing their shopping habits.

The law as it currently stands cannot be enforced to stop people setting off fireworks when they are underage or in places they shouldn't be doing it or to stop home displays terrifying nearby animals. The damage is done ie the fireworks have already been set off by the time the police are called. It is also impossible to identify or catch individuals eg setting them off in fields because it is dark when they do it!!

I am trying to stop people having the fireworks in the first place. They are too easy to buy along with the weekly shopping, especially for youngsters using "pester power". I believe that if people had to find a specialist shop, probably in the High Street, a lot of them might not be bothered to make the effort. Also, I hope that one of the big out of town stores might take this up as a good idea to improve their image locally, possibly nationally.

I think Anna's paragraph is a good addition to a letter.

Dear ..............,

I am writing to you as part of a public campaign to stop the suffering of animals injured and traumatised each year by fireworks. As a pet owner and therefore a purchaser of pet food and supplies all year round, I have decided to withdraw my custom from those shops which continue to sell fireworks.

I am just part of a much larger group of like-minded individuals, and we are coming together in order to put the weight of our combined "pet-food pounds" behind our opinion. We are an ever-growing group, and we intend to compile a list of those retailers willing to offer their support by withdrawing fireworks from sale, before launching a campaign in the national media. Although realising that it is within the law for you to retail fireworks, I would be grateful to hear from you whether you intend to continue doing so.

Yours sincerely etc

[gwenoakes]

I will join in, bl**dy well started here before 4.30p.m. huuuuuuge bangs. Idiots!!!!!

[sulasmum]

I will join in too. I always shop at my local co-op and will write to the manager there to see what they have to say. Althogh judging on this year I dont think they sold many and certainly did not display them prominently

[rosiesmumof4]

you would have thought it was the heavy artillery here last night - the fireworks from various houses in the village went on for nearly 40 minutes!
Extraordinary waste of money too imo.

[kofihorse]

Yes, I was out after midnight stopping drunks from setting off fireworks. Both lots were from people in the new houses who didn't do it on 5th November so I was unpleasantly surprised when they started going off just too close for comfort.

I must say, both parties were quite posh ones but they were very nice about it and did stop straightaway - the only damage was me nearly being knocked off my feet by the alcohol fumes!!

I'm sending my letters off tomorrow to my three local big supermarkets. Will let you know if I get a response.

Any ideas for a famous celebrity animal lover to front the campaign??