Safer Communities Action Group
Newsletter Summer 2010
Dear All,
Welcome to the first Safer Communities Action Group Newsletter for Spring/Summer 2010!
We’ve had a busy year so far with events and fundraising and would like to share our successes with you.
The Safer Communities Action Group works in Glanymor and Tyisha, in partnership with; Communities First, Neighbourhood Policing Team, Mid and West Wales Fire Service, Criminal Prosecution Service, Town Council, County Council, Housing Department, local Residents and Tenants Associations and more, to help reduce crime and the fear of crime. We work to make Glanymor and Tyisha a safer place to live, work and play.
The group meets on the third Thursday of every month at Trinity Chapel, New Dock Rd at 14:00hrs. We hope to see you at a meeting soon, where a warm welcome and a cuppa await you.
Contact Details: safercommunitiesactiongroup@gmail.com
Visit us on Face Book
Chair: Charles Watson
Vice Chair:Vanessa Marsh
Treasurer: Steve Yeo
Minute Secretary: Joanne Yeo
Correspondence Secretary: Paul Harries
March saw the Safer Communities Action Group holding their first Community Safety Event and Awards Presentation Evening at the Antioch Centre.
The event was held to promote community safety with information stands from the Neighbourhood Policing Team, Fire Service, Chooselife, Housing Associations, Community Safety Partnership, the Road Safety Team, the Action Groups and our very own information stand and more. The event also celebrated the many community safety achievements throughout Glanymor and Tyisha with awards being presented to; Copperworks and Lakefield Schools for the promotion of community safety within the school, Neville Wilkins for Crossing Patrol Person of the Year, PC Arwel Davies for Neighbourhood Policing Officer of the Year, Debbie Pearce for Community Safety Resident/Tenant of the Year and Joanne Yeo for Community Safety Champion of the Year. The evening was a huge success and we hope to continue it next year. The evening was supported by Carmarthenshire County Council’s Housing Department and WCVA.
Group members and Community members took part in ACT NOW (All Communities Together) training. The training gave those present a better understanding of how the police and other service providers may act in a terrorist situation.
Targets for 2010
Our targets for this year include;
7% reduction in Anti Social Behaviour statistics
7% reduction in the perception of Anti Social Behaviour
10 Parents/Volunteers to receive training on how to run a Road Safety initiative with at least 1 sustainable volunteer-based initiative
5% reduction in the fear of Burglary
5% reduction in the level of criminal activity related to residential burglaries.
April saw members taking part in Child Safety Day at Llanelli Leisure Centre. Organised by Carmarthenshire County Council’s Road Safety Team, the event was organised to check Child Car Seats are fitted correctly and also to give advice and information on Community Safety issues.
Members of the Safer Communities Action Group went along to promote the group. During the event, we held a colouring competition, with the first prize being kindly donated from Tesco – a brand new bicycle with accessories! Runners up received goody bags. During April, volunteers from the group, together with Communities First, Neighbourhood Policing Team and Trading Standards went door-to-door in both Dilwyn St and Florence St, over two days, to invite residents to sign up to the Door Step Crime Prevention scheme. It was a wet and miserable day when visiting Dilwyn St but the coffee kept us going. The two streets are now signed up and are now “No cold calling” zones.
May was a busy month with members attending the Fire Brake Wales conference held in Carmarthen, and members also joined Ellinor Goldsmith from Mid and West Wales Fire Service as she visited all the schools within Glanymor and Tyisha delivering Fire Safety talks. These visits also ran through June. A small group of members also visited the Senedd at Cardiff to attend a talk on the Tiered Approach to Youth and Anti Social Behaviour. During May, we also held and exhibited a Photographic Competition. Community residents and tenants were invited to enter photos of both the negative and positive aspects of community safety within Glanymor and Tyisha. We had over 200 entries which was fantastic! The photos were professionally judged by Graham Harries of Llanelli Photographic Society, with feedback given to the winners. The event was funded by monies awarded by Giving Sir Gar. There were prizes and framed photos for the winners and runners up.
June was Road Safety Month and members of the group went on a road show throughout Glanymor and Tyisha. We visited the schools, nurseries and family centres reading road safety stories, doing quizzes, role play, games and colouring. We also held “Walk to School” events in partnership with Gari Go Safe and the Road Safety Team from Carmarthenshire County Council. It was a successful campaign and we have been invited back in November during Road Safety Week to visit again.
The CCC Road Safety Team also carried out Kerb Craft training with both Copperworks and Lakefield Schools, teaching children road safety skills. New sessions will begin again in September. The group’s information boards were also on display at Copperworks School’s Summer Fayre. Also in June, we held a “Curry Night Fundraiser” and raffle. We raised over £200 and were delighted. We are planning to hold another social evening fundraiser soon. The group were also delighted to hear they had been awarded “Highly Commended” in Group of the Year category of the WCVA awards.
In July, we had a display stand at the “Your Community Your Justice” event which was held at the Antioch. Hoping for some nice weather to deliver the Door Step Crime Prevention packs proved to be difficult, as once again it rained in typical Llanelli style. The packs have been rolled out in both Dilwyn St and Florence St now and we will revisit in 6 months time to see if the scheme has been successful.
In August, Inspector Eric Evans invited members to visit the DPP Communication Room in Carmarthen followed by a visit to the Custody Suite at Ammanford. The group really appreciated the invite and learnt what goes on behind the scenes.
The group also had display and information stands at the Llanelli Festival, held in the Selwyn Samuel Centre.
Where are we financially?
Monies received this year so far include;
• £454 from Giving Sir Gar for the Photographic Competition and Exhibition
• £4,996 from WCVA towards new resources and the Community Safety Event and Awards Presentation Evening
• £904 from Keep Wales Tidy for the Anti Graffiti campaign
• £207 raised at the Curry Fundraiser (tickets and raffle)
• Raffle prizes included;
1. Family Tickets to Folly Farm
2. Family Tickets to first home Scarlets game
3. 3 course Sunday Lunch for 2 at Stradey Park Hotel
4. Wine from Mrs. Ann John-Upton
5. 1 free child voucher for Childsplay Play Centre
• £50 from the High Sheriff towards our future ‘Don’t let it be you’ campaign
• Needle Disposal Units purchased for the Community via Health Authority
• Story Sack donated from CCC Road Safety Department
• 700 High-vis wrist bands/snaps donated from Go Safe and Western Power
• Bike and accessories worth over £90 as prize donated by Tesco
• Refreshments donated from Tesco, ASDA and Morrisons
• The monthly donation box for refreshments continues to bring in funds. Please note, it is a voluntary donation box. There is also an option to donate via standing order.
What’s coming up?
We have some exciting projects coming up, including;
• “Don’t let it be you” campaign. This campaign will be working with local schools within Glanymor and Tyisha, to promote Road Safety.
• RESPECT campaign. This is a campaign looking at Anti Social Behaviour and perceived Anti Social Behaviour within Glanymor and Tyisha.
• Graffiti Clean Up. We will be working in partnership with the Community Payback Scheme to clean up Glanymor and Tyisha by removing graffiti off both public and private buildings. If you, or you know someone, who has had graffiti written on your home/business and would like us to help remove it, please contact us. Permission MUST be given first.
Funding
• We currently have 3 Funding applications pending, 2 of which are for the above campaigns – “Don’t let it be you” and also the Respect campaign. The third application is for new resources.
We are always looking for new ways and ideas to help us become self sufficient. If you would like to help us fundraise to keep the group working as we are, please contact us.
We would like to thank everyone for their continued support; Service providers, volunteers and residents/tenants. It really is appreciated!
THANK YOU
Useful Contacts
• Safer Communities Action Group (SCAG) – Joanne Yeo 01554 752138 or safercommunitiesactiongroup@gmail.com
• Communities First – 01554 777850
• Youth Action Group – Faye Davies 01554 777850 or FSdavies@carmarthenshire.gov.uk
• Sports Health Leisure and Wellbeing Action Group – Communities First 01554 777850
• Environment and Regeneration Action Group – Charles Watson crynllys39@sky.com or Farah Aziz 01554 777850 or
FAziz@carmarthenshire.gov.uk• Debt and Benefit Advice – Bryony or Chris 01554 777850
• Emergency Services - 999
• Non Emergency police number – 101
• Llanelli Fire Station – 0870 6060699
• Home Fire Safety Checks – 0800 169 1234
• Needle Disposal – 01267 234567
• Chooselife Cymru – 01554 771122
• Anti Social Behaviour Co-ordinator – Michelle Langshaw 01269 598356
• Carmarthenshire Housing Department (Llanelli Office) – 01554 742350
• Carmarthenshire County Council – 01267 234567
• Llanelli Town Council – 01554 774352
• Paul Harries (Project Development Officer) – 01554 779993 or Paulh@llanellitowncouncil.gov.uk
• Carmarthenshire County Council Road Safety Team (education) – 01267 228284 or DKGriffiths@carmarthenshire.gov.uk
• Seaside Community Association – Seaside Office 01554 758802
• Morfa Residents and Tenants Association – Dave Tucker 01554 777070
• Tyisha Residents Association – Vanessa Marsh 01554 753483
• New Dock Residents Association – Teresa Armstrong 07944684906 or teresaarmstrong@btopenworld.com
• North Dock Residents and Tenants Association – Mike Doe northdock@hotmail.co.uk
• Lakefield Residents Association – Jeff Owen jeffowen144@btinternet.com
• 5 Ty’s Residents and Tenants Association – Debbie Pearce 5tys.tennants@googlemail.com
• Glanymor Neighbourhood Watch – Peter Thorne 01554 753389 or John Jones JEJones@carmarthenshire.gov.uk
• Llanelli Home Watch – Philip Warlow philipwarlow@gmail.com
• Old Lodge/Clos St. Paul’s/Cwrt Neville Association - Ron Craven 01554 751678 or roncraven@hotmail.co.uk
• Families in crisis – Vanessa Evans vanessa@cycaonline.org
• Cllr Winston Lemon – WJLemon@carmarthenshire.gov.uk
• Cllr John Jones – JEJones@carmarthenshire.gov.uk
• Cllr Keri Thomas – KPThomas@carmarthenshire.gov.uk
• Cllr Roger Price -
RTPrice@carmarthenshire.gov.uk - The Safer Communities Action Group meet on the 3rd Thursday of every month in Trinity Chapel at 14:00hrs
- The Environment and Regeneration Action Group meet on the last Thursday of every month in Emmanuel Chapel at 14:00hrs
- The Youth Action Group meet on the first Wednesday of every month in Communities First Offices at 16:00hrs
- The Sports Health Leisure and Wellbeing Action Group meet on the third Wednesday of every month in Communities First Offices at 14:00hrs
Contact Details: e-mail safercommunitiesactiongroup@gmail.com
