Neighbourhood Watch Roundup

Happy Birthday to Us!

Seaford and Bishopstone Neighbourhood Watch (S&BNHW) turns 35 this year, making us one of the oldest NHW Associations in the UK. To celebrate, we are planning a bumper EXPO in September with lots in store to celebrate our community and the neighbourliness that makes us one of the safest towns in the UK to live in, work in, or visit. We are also one of the best subscribed Associations in the country with well over 10% of our households registered members. We are visible, active and relevant, which keeps crime rates down, and community spirits up. Far from being stuffy and bureaucratic, our NHW success stems from our core ethos of Great Neighbourliness. The way we, as a town, have rallied and supported one another through this ghastly pandemic evidences this spirit. Proudly, Kindly, Seaford. Keep an eye out for the dates of the September Birthday party – we are holding off setting anything in stone until we are certain that we can safely meet in person.

We Do Things Differently

S&BNHW is a constitutioned association and a registered charity. This means we get to do things our own way. We consider all Seaford residents automatic members of the NHW, and our work as a committee is for the benefit of all residents. You will soon notice a face lift to the NHW signs in your street – NHW will be even more visible and as a result, all of us benefit. You can join NHW on a national level at www. ourwatch.org.uk which is totally free and automatically registers you with our scheme. You can also become a registered member of the Association and your subs contribution will help to keep us ticking along. Subs are ridiculously affordable at £3 per household per year or £2 per household per year for a senior household. Joining is easy at www.sandbnhw.org/join.

Notice of our AGM

Like last year, our AGM will be held virtually on Zoom on 23rd June 2021. Please keep an eye out for the meeting notice in your email inbox. If you haven’t yet subscribed to our mailing list, please do so at www. sandbnhw.org so that you don’t miss out on any invites or alerts. We never spam and you will not receive unnecessary mail from us, ever.

MEMBERSHIP FORM: To Join or Renew, please complete this form and return to The Treasurer, S&BNHW, 37 Church Street, Seaford, BN25 1HG.

NEW MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL for YEAR 2021 SUBID (if known) ________________

Title: ________ Forename: _______________________ Surname: _______________________________________ Address: _____________________________________________________________ Post Code: ______________ Tel: ______________________ Mobile: __________________ Email: _____________________________________ £3.00 Family Subscription £2.00 Senior Subscription £_______ Donation

Banking Details: Sort Code: 40-‐40-‐25 Account #: 41440152 Reference: 2021/Surname or SubID

Tick here to subscribe to our mailing list for email alerts and newsletters. We do not share any of your details with third party organisations nor do we distribute unsolicited email. Data is held on a secure and encrypted server and is used solely for managing membership, correspondence, dues and donations. Our data policy can be viewed on our website www.sandbnhw.org

With all the chaos of lockdowns, endless isolating, and the disruption of COVID, we took a view that you had more important things to think about in 2020 and 2021 renewal seasons than the NHW and your subs. There is no rush, but we will need to catch up with renewals and if you haven’t already set up an autorenew on Paypal or on our website, then this is the time to do it – it takes no more than 1 minute to set up and then you can forget about it. It will autorenew each year until you cancel. Visit www.sandbnhw.org/join and select the membership you prefer. Then follow the screen prompts. This method saves us a ridiculous amount of time in admin, running around with cash and cheques.

If you prefer to do it the old way, there is a tear off form on the opposite page for your convenience.

Scams are Rife

Without a doubt, digital and cybercrime far outstrip any other type of crime in our community. Being scam- savvy is your first and best defence to this type of crime and we strongly encourage you to take the Trading Standards Friends Against Scams online course, which is free, and become a Friend Against Scams, sharing that knowledge with others. It is outrageous how clever most scams are and how insidiously scammers inveigle their way in, to empty bank accounts and devastate lives.

Scamming is not just a phishing email or a dodgy link in a text message. Some scammers take months to work their way in, building trust and developing a relationship with their victims with no other purpose but to steal as much money as they can. We often read about people losing tens upon hundreds of thousands in a phone scam and we wonder how on earth someone could lose that much money – well when you are elderly, lonely and some charlatan befriends you over a course of months on the phone, it starts to make more sense. This is why being a Great Neighbour and being scamsavvy is so vital – keeping an eye on our vulnerable family and friends and sharing your scam-savviness with them will help protect us all. The statistics of scam crime are astounding, and our elders are at most risk. Our most precious neighbours are scammed to the tune of £5 to £10 billion pounds a year. Yes, billion. Most who have been scammed are too ashamed to report the crime, so our best and only defence is being well prepared and knowledgeable. You can access the course here https://www.friendsagainstscams.org.uk/

Report Everything

It seems like a drudge when scam calls, texts and emails are a daily event, but the more scam attempts that are reported, the better our Cyber Units at the Police are able to work together to stamp out this crime. Most of this crime is cross border so our Police Cyber Crime Units need our reports to better map the crimes and where they originate. You can report telephone scam fraud most easily at https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/ and text scams and email scams can be forwarded as follows. For text scams forward the whole message to 7726 which sends it to the National Cyber Security Centre. Email scams can be forwarded to report@ phishing.gov.uk.

There is a wealth of information on the National Cyber Security Centre website which you can visit here https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/guidance/suspiciousemail-actions

It is such an exciting time with our brilliant NHS getting us all vaccinated and what looks to be a glorious summer ahead of us. Please be safe when out and about. Remember that your safety comes first – make sure windows and doors are secured, and your front and back doors locked even when at home. Keep purses and wallets well out of sight and do not leave your bags and backpacks unattended. Keep being the Great Neighbours that you are – be generous with your smiles, your encouragement of others and your kindness. See you in September for our Birthday Expo – we look forward to hugs and laughter (and cake) aplenty. Be safe.