Keeping the momentum of the Platinum Jubilee 2022 going is on everybody’s mind who managed to improve relationships with neighbours during Neighbourhood Watch Week 2022, which celebrated 40 years of Neighbourhood Watch. The Eden Project Communities have created wonderful memories on various platforms, when they actually sent people to record the Platinum celebrations in various localities.

We had the benefit of TV appearances of both our CEO John Hayward-Cripps and Head of Membership Cheryl Spruce with founding member Colleen Atkins. Also the day-time favourite series doctors saw the local police officer recommending joining a Neighbourhood Watch group. Cheryl will also speak at our AGM.

Isn’t it commendable that Colleen met with her neighbours over a period of 40 years?

Creating that sense of community is very important to us but Covid put a spanner in our works and we resolved this with electronic communications methods. Whilst many worked from home, the use of Teams and Zoom increased dramatically and social media, as well as WhatsApp drew in many members.

Our WhatsApp group became very popular and grew tremendously. Yet, now we can walk and talk with our neighbours in person again. Reaching out to neighbours is often easier in person. Whilst it is of course a must to register with Ourwatch for formal membership and creating a lasting record of members with the ability to store safely group documents and communications, we mustn’t forget how important it is to actually meet with the people who register online.

We now have a weekly coffee morning for all who wish to speak about their local issues, see event calendar. Booking appointments is also still possible for those who happen to work on Thursday mornings.

We want our local groups to be as independent as possible but also stay informed. We have now created a new WhatsApp group, which informs only and gives our co-ordinators and members the ability to get the Borough Command Unit Partnership messages without fuss via our WhatsApp channel, which is exclusively used for Ourwatch members. Please join Ourwatch and confirm that you wish to be added.

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