December 2000

Merry Christmas

With the festive season fast approaching may the Ponteland District Neighbourhood Watch Committee be the first to wish ALL of our readers a Very Merry Christmas and we hope a Happy and Prosperous New Year, or dare we say Millennium.

Floods

With the recent flooding in the area the committee would like to send our sympathy to all those who were affected and hope things get back to normal as quickly as possible.

House Numbers

Help the Emergency Services to Help You, make them easy to see.

It has been mentioned several times in C&S news but can I bring up the subject once more.

With the dark nights and the onslaught of and Winter please try to ensure that your house is properly numbered, and that the number is easy to see and not hidden by overgrown hedges and shrubs.

An easily read house number makes the job of the emergency services that much easier when trying to locate a particular address. It may be the ambulance trying to attend to one of your neighbours or the police attending to your break-in.

The official guidance from the Post Office and the Emergency Services is that the number should be in numerals 100mm ( 4inches ) high and placed at the edge of the property - a fence or gate! And not set back from the road on the house itself, remember that some our drives are rather long and not many of our emergency services carry binoculars.

Hedges

Get into Trim

As a security item please make sure that your hedges are not

a) encroaching over the footpath or

b) growing too high.

Overgrown hedges make a good hiding place for burglars and a good place to hide any property stolen.

But the security aspect apart an overgrown hedge could be an intrusion into your neighbours privacy and of course if your hedge is encroaching over the footpath outside your premises it is representing a real danger to users of the footpath by possibly forcing them onto the road, particularly if they are pushing a child’s buggy or a wheel chair.

Rural News

Your committee welcomes the fact that rural areas such as Belsay, Capheaton, Middleton, Scots Gap and Walton receive copies of “Crime and Security News”, but are concerned that, apart from the occasional mention in the Sergeant’s Newsletter, there is little information or points of view included which covers the rural area.

Over to you folks

CRY Charity Christmas Cards

In our October issue e announced the sale of Christmas Cards in support of this charity.

An update from the charity recently received.

Thank you to everyone who purchased charity Christmas Cards supporting Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) from either the Stables Coffee Shop near Bolam Lake or the Ponteland Gift Shop on West Road. The response has been tremendous and Every Penny from the sale of these cards will go direct to the charity. A small quantity of packs, depicting a beautiful winter scene of Bolam Lake are still available (10 cards in each pack for £5.00)

For further information contact Jo Cross 01661 872 085.

Drugs Awareness Guide

It was mentioned in the August issue of C&S News that several thousand guides had been printed on the dangers of drugs, what to look for and the physical symptoms.

The guides were to be launched at a public meeting in September / October, BUT yes you guessed, due to technical difficulties this was unable to happen.

It is hoped that the official launch will now take at the Annual General Meeting which has been set for 22nd March 2001, the time and agenda will be published nearer the date.

But talking of drugs

Members of the committee recently attended a talk given by Mr Keith Hellawell, the UK Anti-Drugs Co-ordinator.

During the talk some interesting facts came to light on the subject of drugs and how long they can stay in your system. The information came about as the result of research been done in Northern Ireland.

1. A person took an Ecstasy Tablet on the Saturday night, and on the Wednesday morning admitted they were still doing things wrong at work.

2. A Roofer admitted the same, but also admitted that he had doing the wrong things whilst on the roof doing his work.

3. If we use Sleeping Pills for 12 months we are OR can be addicted, and research has shown that 4 million of us are addicted to Sleeping Pills.

If these facts are true I think it a frightening state for our society to be in.

Personal Alarms

Last month you may recall we said that we had still a few personal alarms for sale at £3.00 each.

The response was so great that we have now sold out, But more are on order and we hope that by the time you read this a new supply will be imminent, if not already in stock. To remind you phone 01661 823 965 for details.

Lapsed Schemes

In the September issue our Schemes Sub-committee Chairman, Mr Fleming asked for your help to reactivate schemes by the “collection and delivery” of this newsletter in various streets. All have been reactivated save one.

Kirkley Drive is still inactive, it involves collecting the newsletters from Sports Car Consultants and delivering it to 73 houses in Kirkley Drive.

If you can help Mr Fleming is awaiting your call on 01661 871 670.

Chairman:
chairman.nwatch@nei.co.uk

Chairman Schemes Sub-committee:
schemes.nwatch@nei.co.uk

Editor:
editor.nwatch@nei.co.uk

Web Master:
web.nwatch@nei.co.uk

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