Nick Harrison is starting a local group of Pipedowners to campaign on local issues.

He is  planning to organise a petition to the local Co-Op in Glastonbury. requesting a 'Quiet Hour' when there would be no piped music playing in the store.
He is also planning to have an exhibition in the Glastonbury High Street – sometime next year when the weather gets warmer – of photographs of items he has purchased from retail outlets where piped music is not played. The exhibition will be called The Sale You Missed.

Contact him at nicktheffiddle@yahoo.co.uk

6 St Edmunds Road
Glastonbury BA6 9HU
tel  07 56 58 75 866

Every night this last week the author Andrew Martin talked on noise problems at 10.45pm on Radio 3.

On Tuesday 24th January his subject was piped music.

In the latest Waitrose in-house magazine (Jan 2012) there are two articles on the subject "Should music in restaurants be banned?" - one for and one against. They are asking readers to email their thoughts on the matter:
waitrosekitchen@waitrose.co.uk. Recommend you pick up the magazine, have a read, and get writing! Now's our chance to send lots of emails to someone who's interested.

Virgin Money, in the process of taking over the branches of Northern Rock, is inviting comments and suggestions on its current takeover of Northern Rock branches. At present Northern Rock is almost the only High Street bank that does not have piped music in all or most of its branches.

Email Virgin Money to encourage them to keep these branches quiet via their website virginmoney.com/feedback

Petrie Hosken on LBC 97.3 Radio did an hour-long programme about piped music on 6th November, following up a recent survey that found at least 50% of people  would walk out of shops with it.
Sarah Cawley from the British Retail Consortium, as might be expected, tried to ridicule such reactions as being those of just a few ‘sensitive’ folk. But the emails that Petrie Hosken read generally supported the survey’s findings. One person said she did not mind piped music in principle but agreed it was too loud, a couple of people liked it, but at least 20 other emails that were read out supported the survey’s stance.Petrie indicated that there were many more similarly supportive text messages and e-mails. Yet again, the smooth-talking, well-paid proponents of piped music have been shown to be strangers to the truth.

Dorothy Lewis, a Pipedown member living near Edinburgh, is keen to get in touch with other Pipedowners living in southeast Scotland to discuss starting a local group.  This could deal with local issues far better than Pipedown HQ.

Contact her at lewisda@blueyonder.co.uk

The Co-op chain of supermarkets has won the shameful distinction of being voted the national chain most polluted by piped music by Pipedowners. It has won this odious post, narrowly beating several of the major banking chains, by its ever-increasing deployment of piped music in its stores throughout Britain and by its persistent refusal to respond intelligently to letters of protest.

Just as the Co-op, which makes much of being an 'ethical trader', has in the past boycotted exploitative or racist suppliers, so anyone who cares about music, silence and above all human freedom is now urged to boycott the Co-op. Waitrose, Aldi, Liddl and Tesco  are alternatives  generally free of piped music  – except for Tesco at Christmas – and are often cheaper too. Waitrose is a partnership like the Co-op. Unlike the Co-op, it has not succumbed to the piped music industry's propaganda.

Also write in protest to Mr Peter Marks, Chief Executive, The Co-op, New Century House, Corporation Street, Manchester M60 4ES .

The East of England Co-op chain, which retains a certain autonomy from the Manchester headquarters and does not normally inflict piped music on its customers and staff, makes a happy exception to this deplorable status, and does not need to be boycotted.

Good news from the John Lewis/Waitrose chain. Craig Lewis, the new marketing director of John Lewis, has confirmed that he 'has no plans to introduce piped music in our stores. The calmness of the John Lewis shopping experience is held in high regard by our customers and we would not wish to compromise this in any way.' This announcement, which will please not only Pipedowners but the third of the population who detest piped music, reconfirms the fact that piped music is anything but essential to commercial success.

Why Noise Matters has been published by Earthscan, a leading environmental publisher.

It is the first book of its kind, for there are currently no books on the overall problems of noise pollution and how to deal with them, in Britain at all. The book is written by John Stewart, chair of HACA and UKNA, Britain's leading noise campaigner, with four other authors, all experts in their different fields: Professor Arline Bronzaft of New York University, Professor Francis McManus of Napier University Edinburgh, Nigel Rodgers of  Pipedown, and Val Weedon of Noise Direct. The book will deal with almost every aspect of noise, from traffic, windmills and noisy neighbours to piped music. It is aimed at both the specialist - environmental health officers, for example - and the general reader suffering from noise problems and needing advice. It has graphs and diagrams where relevant but is not a technical book.

Siobhan Wall's new guide  Quiet London has just been published by Frances Lincoln @£9.99.

Quiet London is a guide to quiet places to meet, drink, eat, swim, rest, shop, sleep or read. It includes interesting, attractive places where people don't have to strain to hear each other speak. There are short descriptions for each venue, alongside travel and contact details and simple but atmospheric photographs in colour and black and white.

Like its much valued predecessor Quiet Amsterdam, the book is as beautiful as it is practical, a pleasure to read and hold in the hand.