January 2024

17 Buckden Roundabout January 2024 Village News Buckden Neighbourhood Watch STOP - CHALLENGE - PROTECT – TO STOP FRAUD Winter can be expensive as we spend more money to heat our homes and buy food for the family. Scammers know people will be looking for ways to cover the extra cost and they set up scams to take advantage. One tactic they use is to make web- sites offering loans with interest rates that seem too good to turn down. When you apply, they say you need to pay a fee to secure the rate, once you ’ ve paid, they disappear with your money. HERE ’ S HOW TO HELP PROTECT YOURSELF: • Be wary of loan rates that seem too good to be true. • Use the Financial Services Register to make sure any financial company you ’ re dealing with its genuine. • If someone contacts you with an offer and claims to be from a well - known company always contact the compa- ny yourself on a trusted number first to check the offer is real. DON ’ T FALL FOR FAKE DEALS Scammers love the holiday shopping season. It ’ s the perfect time for them to lure people in with fake deals and trick their victims into paying for items that are counterfeit or don ’ t ex- ist. Here are some tips to help you protect yourself. DO: • Open websites by typing them into your browser, not by clicking links • Consider whether deals you see on social media are too good to be true. • Research sites and sellers – reading reviews can help you understand if they ’ re genuine. DON ’ T: • Open links in emails or text messages you weren ’ t ex- pecting. • Buy high value items from sellers on social media that you can ’ t view in person first. • Agree to use gift cards as a payment method – crimi- nals might ask you to do this it ’ s harder to trace. TO STOP FRAUD TAKE FIVE TO THINK. RICHARD WEST Village Coordinator 01480 811467 / 07841 866630 To contact the police: 999 in an emergency; 0800 555 111 Crime Stoppers; 0300 123 2040 Action Fraud. EMAIL burglarycrackdown@cambs.pnn.police.uk or visit www.crimestoppers.uk.org or you can telephone 101 BUCKDEN BRANCH - ROYAL BRITISH LEGION Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday With Remembrance Sunday on the following day, our short ceremony at the War Memorial on Armistice Day (Saturday 11 th November) this year was, in the circumstances, particular- ly well attended with around 50 people present. I hope we can do as well next year on the Monday following Remembrance Sunday! It was good to have the “ Tommy ” figures in attendance; they are now being integrated into their final position on the village green. My thanks to David for presiding again and I hope those who came found my digression into the home front side of the First World War of some interest. If you weren ’ t there and want to know what it was about, Google “ Devils Porridge ” on the internet! We had an impressively full church on Remembrance Sunday and everyone seemed very pleased with the service; I certainly enjoyed Roger Cresswell ’ s sermon. It was good to see such large and well turned out contingents from the uniformed branches and to have a few more join us in the British Legion pews. As always, clergy from all the churches in the village were pre- sent and took an active part in the service. It is very much ap- preciated that Buckden Churches Together continues to give full support to this important annual ceremony. Thanks to Richard Noble who read the lesson normally reserved for the Legion, to Olivia Irons of the Scouts who read the first lesson and to Orynn Wootton, also of the Scouts, who stood up with me to give the dedication. Ian Clarke is now a fixture as our standard bearer and Michelle Wootton will always blow Lats Post and Reveille for us if there is no scout available for the particular year; we would be very lost without them. Chris Bylett and his choir once again performed a very moving song from the ringing chamber following the two minutes silence; I think this is also becoming part of the Buckden Remembrance tradition. As usual, many thanks, to Buckden Methodist Church for providing coffee for everyone at the Methodist Church Hall after the service. Finally, Tim has provided his own report on this year ’ s Poppy Appeal (below), but it would be very remiss of me not to rec- ognise the huge effort which he and Ce put into the massive success which he reports. Peter Mount - Chairman. Poppy Appeal 2023 Thanks to the generosity of our community the total raised in this year ’ s appeal is £6,891 . It will rise further when SMART payments are added. This is an increase of nearly £1,000 on last year ’ s total. This would not have been possible without the dedication of a growing team of volunteers (21 this year) who collect on doorsteps and count the mountain of coins and notes, or the commitment of so many of our shops, pubs and other institutions (29 this year) here in Buckden and also in Perry including the staff and prisoners at Littlehey. Our thanks to all involved in raising this magnificent total which goes to such a worthy cause. Ce and Tim Walker - Poppy Appeal Organisers