Neighbourhood Watch Roundup Joy of joys, spring is springing up all over and with it, we are out and about, which is a truly wonderful thing having endured as much as we all have through the pandemic. It is a time for rejoicing and rejuvenation! Early in the pandemic, we made an executive decision at NHW HQ, to get behind our lovely community and do what we could, however we could, to make life as simple and as safe as possible. We set up our website as an information portal and coordinated our efforts with the Lewes & Eastbourne Council Community Hub. And like you, we hunkered down and got on with it. This meant we didn’t run our membership and subs quite the way we used to either and now that the worst of it is behind us, we are ready to rejuvenate too! NHW has changed a lot since our Association was registered back in 1986. Back then, there was no national presence and no guiding body. These days NHW is quite an impressive organisation throughout the UK and ultimately accountable to the Home Office for what we do and how we do it. Our Association runs a little differently to most and is recognised by National NHW as both innovative and trend-setting in the way we do things. Our belief is that Great Neighbours make safer communities, and so our focus is always on neighbourliness as a priority – as a result, our town enjoys a very low crime rate compared to most others in the country. Knowing our town like we do, makes us both relevant and effective, and we are most effective where we are most visible.
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It is a proven fact that where NHW is visible, crime reduces by between 16–26 per cent But what does ‘visible’ mean? It certainly doesn’t mean neighbours in high-viz patrolling their patch! Just by having a NHW roundel on your front door, or even one on your car windscreen, you are sending a clear and visible message that NHW is active in our town and that we look out for one another. That puts opportunistic crime on a back foot straight away. Having a street sign on your road is another visible deterrent to crime and our town, for the most part, is very well signboarded. Another visible deterrent is a No Cold Calling decal at your front door. Our association was fundamental in rolling out No Cold Calling in Sussex and working closely with Sussex Police and trading Standards, we were the very first No Cold Calling town in the county. No Cold Calling is enforceable and with a decal on your door, you are well within rights to report callers to the Police if you feel threatened or the caller is persistent. We have a simple-to-navigate website which is constantly updated, and our RoundUp email newsletter shares out relevant and helpful safety information to our subscribers regularly. We have two major open meetings a year, in May for our AGM, and again in September. These open meetings are run in Expo format with displays and information tables showcasing various community safety and support organisations, a speaker, refreshments and the good biscuits. All of this costs money, but as a well-managed Association we keep everything running within our means. This has meant that our Association Subs have not changed in more than five years and remain at £3 per household per year and discounted to £2 per household per year for senior citizens. There is also no obligation to join the Association. We consider everyone a beneficiary of the work we do, and membership to NHW is free. Those subs do keep us going, so if you can afford to join the Association, we encourage you to do so. Joining us is as easy as pie, and you can choose how you want to join and at what level. To join our mailing list, go to www.sandbnhw.org and Get Connected on the home page. To join the Association, go to www. sandbnhw.org/join and choose the subscription that suits you, follow the screen prompts, and it is as simple as that.
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