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VILLAGE NEWS
NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH (NHW)
Local Crime.
There has been a significant upsurge in burglaries in
the local area during the last month. In Buckden,
houses in St.Hugh’s Rd, Perry Rd and Silver St were
broken into and valuables stolen.
Surrounding villages including Little Paxton, Godman-
chester and Southoe have also been targeted: isolat-
ed and vacant houses seem particularly vulnerable.
On the positive side, five men have been arrested in
connection with burglaries in Huntingdonshire.
In the light of these events and the imminence of
Christmas, it is obvious that, during the next few
weeks, we should be especially vigilant, at home as
well as out shopping. The following aspects, in partic-
ular, should be borne in mind.
Report any unusual or suspicious cars or indi-
viduals to the police on 101 (now improved).
Ensure that your house, outbuildings and vehi-
cles are secure at all times but especially at
night and when you are not at home.
Store presents out of sight in the house and in
the car.
Ensure that house and car keys cannot be ac-
cessed from outside.
Maintain and test security lights and alarms.
If returning to your car alone on completing
shopping, have your key ready, store valuables
in the boot or on the floor, lock it and leave
quickly - do not hang around eg.to use your
‘phone.
In addition to conventional crimes, there has been a
sharp rise in scams. As has been noted before regu-
larly in this column, these now take on a wide variety
of guises but almost all are aimed at extracting per-
sonal financial data from you. Fake official sites pos-
ing as banks or government departments or callers
representing them are increasingly active.
Contact details.
Report an incident or suspicious behaviour to the new
single non-emergency number 101. Call 999 if a
crime is in progress or threatened.
Your village NW Coordinators are:
Clive Williams 811828
Richard West 811467
We wish you a happy and safe
Christmas and New Year.
BUCKDEN LIBRARY
Here at Buckden Library we've just been given a
regular slot in the Buckden Roundabout to share our
news with you. Each month I'm hoping to tell you a
bit about what we've been up to and what we've got
planned.
Remember that without regular usage there is a seri-
ous risk of the library having to close so please pop
in and show your support. We have facilities and
activities for all ages – from Storytime for toddlers on
Tuesday afternoons to computer lessons for older
village residents. I mustn't forget to mention our pop-
ular fortnightly Knit Lit group either or I wouldn't be in
Ann's good books!
During the winter lots of people like to curl up with a
good book. Did you know that if Buckden Library
doesn't have a particular title in stock we can order it
in for you, free of charge, from another Cambridge-
shire library? If you have Internet access at home
you can even order the book yourself.
For those of you who like to socialise at the library,
we're hoping to get some comfortable chairs just
inside the entrance, so watch this space. If you know
anyone who likes to read but isn't able to get to the
library, we can deliver library books to their door.
As you may be aware, volunteers now assist in the
day-to-day running of the library. We've got a strong
core team at the moment but are always looking for
enthusiastic people to join us. If you're interested in
finding out more we'll be holding a coffee morning in
March (details will be announced nearer the time)
where we'd love to see you.