Neighbourhood Watch Update

With Bill Farnham

Neighbourhood Watch suffered a devastating loss with the tragic death of Sgt Louise Lucas, Station Sergeant at Llanishen Police Station. Louise was killed in Swansea in a collision with a bus on 31st March, 2015. She was a great source of help and advice to us in Neighbourhood Watch; her enthusiasm was infectious and she was always willing to assist us in any way she could. Louise was a lovely lady, a great police officer, an avid supporter of Neighbourhood Watch. She was also a very good friend. We send our deepest sympathy to her family and hope that our thoughts and prayers will reach out to them and comfort and support them at this very sad time. We will miss her very much.

On the Neighbourhood Watch front, I represented our Association at an Operation Perception in Rhydlafar which eventually led to the relaunch of the Neighbourhood Watch group on the Rhydlafar estate which I was very pleased about. In my role as New Watch Launch Coordinator, I have successfully launched new watches in Ty Gwyn Crescent, Penylan, Wicklow Close, Pontprennau, and Butleigh Avenue, Llandaff.

We attended a meeting of the Cardiff First Golden Oldies Group at the Roundabout Café, Whitchurch with the over 50’s group of people with learning difficulties. This was brilliant and something very different to the usual Neighbourhood Watch activities that we get involved with. We had assistance from the local Neighbourhood Policing Team and gave a brief explanation of what Neighbourhood Watch is about and what the local Policing team get involved with. Then the real fun started! We took part in some games with them, forfeits, sing a song or tell a joke and finished off with a game of Bingo. A very worthwhile afternoon indeed.

We had a excellent speaker at our General Meeting in February, Penny Steinhaur, who gave a very interesting and informative talk on Keeping Safe On Line covering such topics as cyber-bullying, grooming, sexting etc. She proved that while the internet is a fantastic invention, it can also be very dangerous in the wrong hands.

Our next General Meeting is on Tuesday 19th May, 2015 at the Whitchurch Rugby Club, Samuels Crescent (bottom of Velindre Road), Whitchurch, Cardiff CF14 2TH, starting at 7pm. Our speaker is Professor Jonathan Shepherd, Director of Violence and Society Research Group, Cardiff University, who will be talking about ‘Tackling Violence Together’. Although this is a Neighbourhood Watch meeting, members of the public are invited to attend and will be made very welcome.

Please don’t forget ‘The Big Lunch’ event which this year is on 7th June, 2015. The Big Lunch has been an excuse for many to make that first step to get to know their neighbours better and get more involved locally. It’s helping to feed community spirit, encouraging friendlier, safer neighbourhoods and celebrating local living and sharing – from ideas and conversation to skills and resources. To order your Big Lunch Pack please visit www.thebiglunch.com

National Neighbourhood Watch Week this year is from 20th June until 28th June and we are very well advanced with organising our events for the week. Details of these will be announced nearer the date and will be sent via Mail Chimp (this is our new messaging service), South Wales Police Community Messaging Service and the local press.

If anyone is interested in setting up a Neighbourhood Watch Group, please contact your local Neighbourhood Policing Team or call our office on 02920 527301.