WELCOME TO CHOC
(Chedworth Oil Club)
NEWSLETTER

Current membership stands at 148 households with annual consumption of approximately 500,000 litres.

The commission for the period November to May is £285.86 which, not surprisingly, is over double for the same period last year. There are minor postage expenses of 54 pence to come out of this eventually. With the previous balance and allowing for the expenses this leaves a total of £288.42 for eventual distribution. There are no plans for distribution at this stage.

The Chedworth Horticultural Show will take place on August 23rd and once more CHOC will take a small part of the marquee to try and persuade a few doubters of the advantages of being a member.

Before the official prize giving in the Hall the CHOC draw will take place, all registered members have a chance to win a prize.

This year, in view of the horrendous price of oil, we have decided to split the 500 litres donated by Sweet Fuels into three prizes of 250, 150 and 100 litres.

You will be able to check your number for the draw on a list displayed on the CHOC stand.  
Once again our advice to members during this turbulent time is to always get alternative quotes whenever ordering and, if any of the quotes are cheaper than Sweet, invite Sweet to undercut by one penny per litre.

Theft of oil from tanks is growing as the price has escalated with the average tank now containing over £1,000 worth. As yet this is not an epidemic and seems confined to certain areas but it is spreading and has recently caused concern in Gloucestershire.

For the vast majority of tanks (single skin) there is no secure locking device that will stop the thieves so sensible precautions would seem desirable.

Although disguising the position of the tank by the use of foliage or actually moving it into a secure building would seem obvious solutions, a more practical way might be, either a CCTV system, which can be bought for under £100, or a motion activated security light over the vulnerable area. Both these options are thought to deter potential thieves.

Checking the level of oil in the tank every two weeks or so would give members a better chance of seeing if they have been raided as apparently the thieves are known to return to the more vulnerable sites time after time, without the householder being aware of a theft.  

It is also known that criminals are stealing small amounts of heating oil (a few gallons at a time) to mix with lubricating oil to run their diesel vehicles.

Victims, who have been unaware that a theft has taken place, have blamed the oil delivery Companies for under delivering!

We are still looking for new members so, if you still haven’t joined, please give me a ring on 720668, Ted Broughton on 720440 or Paul Deamer on 720432.

Alternatively download and complete a “Membership Application Form”.

Sweet Fuels telephone number is 01367 710666, we do get asked for it regularly!

Paul Lunt