November 2014

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VILLAGE NEWS
Buckden Surgery Patients’ Association
200 Club Prize Winners
October 2014 Draw
£25 No. 18 Mrs Ann Coleman
£25 No. 105 Mrs June Donachy
£12 No. 121 Mr M Bangs
£12 No. 142 Mrs L Littler
Royal British Legion—
Buckden Branch
I do hope that some of you were
able to find time to visit the
World War One Living History
Weekend organised at Riverside
Meadows Huntingdon on 27th
and 28th September. As well as
fascinating displays, the oppor-
tunity to talk to the re-enactors,
many of them extremely knowl-
edgeable, and see weapons and
equipment from the period was a real opportunity to look
inside the history of the war.
Remembrance Sunday this year falls on the 9th Novem-
ber; there will be the usual service at St. Mary’s Parish
Church and I hope to see as many of you as possible
there. It would be very nice to have more than the usual
number of British Legion members on parade in this, the
centenary year of the start of the Great War; please join
us if you can. We would also welcome serving or ex
members of the armed forces (regular or reserve) even if
you are not members and, yes, I will try to recruit you!
Armistice Day is on the following Tuesday and I am ex-
pecting to have the usual short ceremony at the War Me-
morial starting at about 10.45 a.m. so do come along if
you can.
The Branch Annual General Meeting will be held at the
Millennium Centre at 7.30 pm on Wednesday 26th No-
vember. The small group of active members of the
branch continues to shrink and we urgently need new
blood. I am still working full time and was not able to re-
duce my hours in 2014: that may change at some stage
next year, but we still need your support.
NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH (NHW)
Tit-bits from the County Annual NW Conference.
The annual meeting of the Cambridgeshire NW Association
provides an opportunity for the police to brief it on matters
of mutual interest and to be updated by members of the
County and National NW organisations. Items of general
interest from the recent meeting were:
 The Chief Constable announced that, despite the
significant fall in his budget over the last few years,
he has managed to retain most of his regular officers
but has had to make a large cut in the number of
PCSO (Police Community Support Officers). Never-
theless, crime levels are down by an average of 25%
especially those against the person.
 He reviewed the steady change in crime patterns.
Not surprisingly, thefts of TVs, DVDs and the like
were going down as resale values fell but theft of
hand-held devices was rising. Crimes involving vehi-
cles reflected the improvements being made in their
protection: the newest and most desirable cars only
being targeted by well organised criminal gangs.
 The reduced physical threat to property and people
in general is being offset by a rapid rise in internet
crime which is becoming more widespread and in-
creasingly sophisticated and organised.
 Why do we see fewer police on the streets? The CC
responded to this common complaint by emphasis-
ing that the most effective use of his (reducing)
budget was in the prevention of crime and the pro-
tection of people rather than property. (“Detection of
sexual exploitation and domestic violence; not litter
and pickpockets“). This called for better intelligence,
surveillance of suspected criminals and personal
contacts with the vulnerable and victims of crime,
much of which was done ‘behind the scenes’ and out
of uniform.
 As a corollary to the above, the Police and Crime
Commissioner (PCC) has appointed a new member
of staff to develop better ways of engaging with the
public eg. the use of ‘contact points’ in supermar-
kets.
 The shortcomings of the 101 system were recog-
nised and the Police and Crime Commissioner
(PCC) was considering reinstating part of the budget
which had been taken out of the service.
 Cambridgeshire has the highest incidence of farm
thefts in the UK!
News just in.
At the risk of overrunning my copy, the latest scam starts
with a number of ‘silent’ calls followed by a caller offering
you a program to prevent such calls in the future. You will
not be surprised to learn that he needs a fee and your
Bank details!
Contact details.
Report an incident or suspicious behaviour to the new sin-
gle non-emergency number 101. Call 999 if a crime is in
progress or threatened.
Your village NW Coordinators are: Clive Williams 811828
and Richard West 811467
APPEAL FOR WOOL
If anyone has any double-knit wool that they could do-
nate, I would be extremely grateful to receive it. I am knit-
ting blankets for Tanzania, for charity, as an on-going
project. Even odd balls are useful.
I would come and collect them, please phone 810464 or,
alternatively, deliver them to 3 Lark End (2nd left off Vine-
yard Way), Buckden.
Thank you, Yvonne