Seaford and Bishopstone Neighbourhood Watch Association ‘Promoting Good Citizenship, Neighbourliness and Crime Reduction.’
Newsletter Winter 2016/17
Welcome to our Winter 2016/17 Newsletter, which we hope you will find useful and informative. We trust all our Members and prospective Members had an enjoyable Christmas period and we wish you all a prosperous New Year.
COMMITTEE:
There have been a number of changes to our Committee over the past couple of months as follows: Annmarie Roberts has taken over as Membership Secretary, following the sad passing on of Martin French. Bob Evans has taken over as Treasurer from Richard Bosworth, who is now Treasurer of another organisation, but remaining on this Committee. Also, Nicky Slater has stepped down as Publicity Officer, and that important position is vacant and needs filling as soon as possible. Please see the details further on in the Newsletter.
MEMBERSHIP:
We set ourselves the goal of achieving 1,200 Members for 2016 and we fell just short of this figure at 1185 Members. This does, however, make a striking contrast to a few years ago, when we had under 200 Members. Our aim for 2017 is to maintain the 2016 figure and improve this if possible. We already have had a good number of Members join up for 2017 and expect this to continue with the publication of this Newsletter and the one in the forthcoming Spring. A Membership Form for 2017 is printed after this Newsletter, and we also have the facility to join and pay subscriptions on line (simply go to www. sandbnhw.co.uk/subs and follow the instructions). Currently, approximately 1 in 6 Members use the on-line facility.
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Our Rates have remained unchanged again for 2017, i.e £3 per household, reduced to £2 for a Senior Citizen. We write four Newsletters per year, and for those who have renewed or joined up for 2017 and supplied an email address, we also send out a bi-monthly email update, which includes details of local crime and outlines the latest scams etc to be aware of. We also pass on urgent information from Sussex Police and National Neighbourhood Watch as appropriate.
LOCAL CRIME / POLICE UPDATE:
There have been a number of burglaries recently in Seaford, either overnight, or during the late afternoon when it is dark and houses or property are empty for the day, maybe while the owners are out at work etc. In November, a Charity Shop was burgled one night, and cash and collection tins were stolen. On 11th December a home in Hurdis Road was burgled during the afternoon/evening and cash and treasured personal possessions were stolen. On 15th December four homes were broken into and cash taken, although laptops and other electrical items were left alone. These four burglaries were all within the same timeframe and were located relatively close together, so the Police suspect they were carried out by the same persons as they are so similar. Enquiries for these three incidents are ongoing, but they do highlight the need to make sure your home looks ‘lived in’ whenever possible. Please consider the use of timers for an indoor light so that it gives the impression of someone at home after dark. Notwithstanding the above incidents, Seaford does remain a low crime area, although we urge precautions at all times, such as locking doors, locking cars when on your drive, keeping windows secure,
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