Following on from last months article, online banking is now available for Lloyds TSB customers as well as Barclays and Alliance and Leicester. That means you can draw out cash at the Post Office using your cash card and PIN. Of course for all of these banks (and Co-op, Smile and Cahoot) you can still draw cash using a cheque and pay in cash and cheques.

We’ve noticed an increase in recent months in people investing in Premium Bonds. Premium Bonds have been considered a rather unfashionable investment for many years, but with the current low interest rates, most savings schemes can only offer very poor returns. Although Premium Bonds are something of a gamble, all you are risking is the interest – the capital is safe and can be withdrawn at any time. Around £36.5m of prizes are paid out every month, including the £1million jackpot, ranging down to over 600,000 payments of £50. The minimum investment is £100 with the maximum now £30,000. Full details are available in the Post Office.

Incidentally, if you have some old Premium Bonds lying at the back of a drawer and want to check if they have won any prizes you can find out online at www.nsandi.com.

On a completely different subject I have recently been able to obtain a supply of wine for the shop from the Torres winery in Spain. A few years ago I was fortunate enough to have been able to visit the winery, which is close to Barcelona. After a fine lunch at a nearby restaurant (samples of the local wines included) we took a tour of the facility, and it was most impressive. Many people do not have a high opinion of Spanish wines, or think the only Spanish wine is Rioja. Torres have proved this completely

wrong. By applying the best of new world modern wine making techniques and strict quality control to traditional Spanish grape varieties, they have produced excellent and consistent wines that are a good deal more interesting than many of the ‘standard’ Cabernets, Merlots and Shiraz wines around. At present I have two of their red wines (Sangre de Toro and Coronas) and one white, Vina Sol. I am also trying to get hold of some Gran Coronas – a first class red wine (in my humble opinion!) which is aged in oak barrels. All are well worth a try if you are feeling adventurous.

Steve Haines Subpostmaster
Email: steve@unilake.co.uk