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Summer fun in the West End
Saturday July 12th - West End Festival
Sunday July 13th - Kite Festival
It’s almost festival time again in the West End and arrangements for the West End Festival and the Kite Festival are well underway.
The West End Festival in Regent Park will be held on Saturday 12th July and the Catch the Wind Kite Festival takes place on Sunday 13th July.
Thousands of people each year come from across the country for their summer visit to the Kite Festival.
This fun day out for all the family is one of the toen’s major summer events, festuring brilliant live music, jugglers, and lots more. The main attraction, as always, will be the spectacular displays of all types of kites on the Promenade.
The West End Festival is now in its 13th year and has become an important feature in the local calendar as Morecambe’s answer to a village fete.
The afternoon of entertainment features live music and a host of arts organisations from around the region as well as local West End talent.
Both events are part of a year round programme of arts activities and community celebrations in the West End of Morecambe organised by More Music in Morecambe.
NEWS FROM THE NEIGHBOURHOOD POLICE
Profile
Job Title: Police Community Support Officer for the West End of Morecambe, Lancashire Constabulary.
Current role: As a Police Community Support Officer for the West End of Morecambe, Karl Smith is responsible for providing a uniformed presence to reassure the community and address anti-social behaviour and other issues that affect the quality of life for local people. He is part of the West End Neighbourhood Policing Team which has recently produced figures that show that crimes that affect quality of life have been reduced by over 30%.
Part of Karl Smith’s job is to patrol the area to deter instances of nuisance, anti-social behaviour and criminality. He works closely with other organisations including Winning Back Morecambe’s West End, the council, fire and rescue amongst others to tackle environmental matters such as graffiti and abandoned vehicles. As a PCSO, Karl takes a problem orientated approach to help improve the neighbourhood. Karl is also involved in the Police and Communities Together (PACT) meetings. These meetings are held on a monthly basis for members of the local community to come along and talk about any issues that arise in their neighbourhood.
PCSO Karl Smith said: “I’ve been working here for 10 months now and every day is different. I’ve been going into local schools and doing talks about truancy, and I’ve been working with local businesses and shops to help reduce thefts by advising on security measures and helping to increase staff confidence when dealing with offenders.
Background: Karl’s first job was working in a timber yard and saw mill where he worked for eight years. He then spent 10 years working in a paper mill. Here he gained valuable experience in dealing with members of the public and working as a team.
In his spare time, Karl spends lots of time outdoors and enjoys fell running and mountain biking close to Kendal, where he lives with his wife and two children.
Teenage Kickz
Are you aged between 12–19? Do you get bored on a Friday night? No money? Why not come for a game of footie?
Morecambe Football Club is running free training sessions on a Friday night at Heysham High School at the following times:
• 20:00- 21:00 for 12- 15 year olds
• 21:00-22:00 for 16- 19year olds
The Kickz football programme has been set up by the Police and the football industry. The Kickz sessions involve:
• increasing the playing, coaching an officiating opportunities for young people
• breaking down barriers between the Police and young people
• reducing crime and anti-social behaviour in the targeted neighbourhoods
• creating routes into education, training and employment
• increasing young people’s interest in the professional game
Winning Back Morecambe’s West End has helped to fund this scheme.
Pupils go in plain clothes to support local police officer
Pupils from West End Primary School raised £50 by coming to school in their ordinary clothes for the day.
On the last day of term, every pupil who chose not to wear their uniform donated money to local Police Community Beat Manager Andy Taylor’s sponsored challenge to walk the Great Wall of China.
Some of the pupils were also taking part in a balloon release as a reward for good behaviour.
Still time to help our Local Bobby Walk the Great Wall
So far, local people have helped contribute £850 to charity by helping local Community Beat Manager, PC Andy Taylor walk the Great Wall of China.
Andy wants to say a big thank you to all that have donated so far, every single penny helps. However, he still needs your help to raise more money which will be split between four worthwhile charities.
The four charities benefiting from your donations are:
Medequip4kids
Bolton Lads and Girls Club
Youth Federation
The Children’s Adventure Farm Trust (CAFT)
Andy plans to take part in the challenge of a life time but needs the help of the community and local businesses to dig deep into their pockets and sponsor his charitable effort. He needs to raise a minimum of £2800 before the trek takes place in September.
Complete the Pledge form below with the amount that you would like to donate, and add your name, address and contact telephone number, and return it to Winning Back Morecambe’s West End, 61-63 Albert Road, Morecambe, LA4 4HY.
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PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT
I would like to pledge a total of £…………*to share between the following charities:
Medequip4kids
Bolton Lads and Girls Club
Youth Federation
The Children’s Adventure Farm Trust (CAFT)
Support PC Andy Taylor in his challenge to walk the Great Wall of China.
Name………………………………………………….
Address……………………………………………….
……………………………….post code……………
Telephone number…………………………………
*Please do not send money with this pledge, Andy will contact you to arrange collection.
Recent Police Operations
Reduction in car damages
An operation to reduce criminal damage to cars in the West End is working well say local police.
In October last year the West End Neighbourhood Policing team launched Operation Bow, which focused on reducing the amount of criminal damage to vehicles.
As well as extra patrols and the targeting of known offenders the operation revolved around members of the public folding in their car wing mirrors when parking up and reporting any items which can be used to damage vehicles which could be removed.
At the end of March there had been a 36% reduction in the number of cars damaged in the West End of Morecambe which is a figure that has delighted police.
Community Beat Manager, PC James Neale, said: “There has been a marked decrease in reports of crime and anti-social behaviour in the West End over the past few years.
“This operation has helped thanks to more specific targeting of offenders and damage hot spots and the co-operation of local residents.’’
Police advise motorists to take the following steps to protect their vehicles.
• PARK in your garage or driveway, if you have one. When away from home use car parks where possible and always leave your vehicle in a well-illuminated area
• RETRACT your aerial and mirrors when you park - the most common damage caused to vehicles is mirrors kicked off and aerials broken
REMOVE all visible items. Even items that are not valuable can encourage someone to break your windows to steal them. Leave the glove box open (if empty) to show there is no property inside
Operation Borderline
Operation Borderline was introduced to tackle criminal damage and underage drinking which effected many West End residents and the main areas of concern were the grounds of Heysham High school and also the field at Essington Avenue. Due to the success of this operation it was used again over the February half-term with similar success.
Borderline was utilised in the West End every evening in the February half term break and also a couple of weekends prior to this. It commenced on 25th January and continued through until 24th February. In the first weekend alone, the Police stopped 36 people and a further 30 Youths were issued with Youth Referral Scheme forms (YRS). There were 57 containers of alcohol confiscated from underage drinkers.
In total over this period of time Police issued 157 Stops forms, 103 YRS forms and issued 4 PND’s. Collectively over this period of time 310 containers of alcohol were confiscated.
Clamping down on Underage Drinking
The West End neighbourhood policing team have been working closely with off-licences in the area.
Police are paying visits to off-licences at peak times to ensure youths don’t congregate near the premises and to offer off-licence staff support in challenging youths to provide relevant ID.
Police are trying to prevent youths obtaining alcohol in the first place and are aware that older members of the public are purchasing alcohol on behalf of youths. To prevent this police and are installing measures to identify these people with the help of local off-licences to prevent this from happening. A fixed penalty of £60 will be issued to people caught doing this.
In February test purchasing was conducted in the Morecambe area. A youth aged 16 entered numerous off-licence premises attempting to purchase alcohol. Every off licence in the West End which was visited asked the youth for ID. This was a very positive result for the police and area as a whole.
New Dates for PACT Meetings
At the PACT meeting held in February the following priorities were set:
•Football nuisance on Devonshire Rd/ Parliament St.
Further information to publicise the ‘Kickz’ programme has taken place.
PCSOs advise youths playing in the street of this and Heysham High School are also active in alerting their students to this activity.
•Juveniles congregating by the railway track on Schola Green Lane.
PCSO’s in the West End and Poulton have been showing a greater presence in this area, no further incidents have been reported to Police.
•Underage drinking on Sandylands Promenade.
Operation Borderline has been targeting this area as have Operation Night Owl. Operation Night owl is a Police Operation where two PCSO’s are mobile and in possession of a video camera to record large groups. Anyone found to be drinking are dealt with in a robust fashion
The current PACT priorities are as follows:
•Youths drinking and anti-social behaviour on Sandylands Promenade and Sunny Slopes
•Parking problems on Parliament St
•Youth drinking and dogs off leads on the new Promenade Gardens
The dates for the ‘Police and Communities Together’ (PACT) meetings will be held on the following dates at the Community Shop on Yorkshire Street from 7pm:
Tuesday 13th May
Tuesday 10th June
Tuesday 8th July
Tuesday 5th August
These meetings are for residents to meet up with their Community Beat Manager to discuss local crime issues.
Additional weekly drop in PACT surgeries will be held from 1pm until 3pm every Wednesday, also at the Community Shop.
If you are unable to attend the meetings but would like to raise a concern, please call 596903.
Post Coding/ Mobile phone marking
Police will be Post Coding push bikes free of charge at Oggys’ Cycles on Regent Road on Saturday 24th May 10am until 5pm. Anybody wishing to have their bikes post coded or their mobile phones marked, please just turn up on the day.
Making life simple
Life has just got better for our over 50s, thanks to Lancaster City Council and the Lancaster District 50 Forward project.
Residents can now call the new 50 Forward helpline on 01524 586850 with their enquiry or send an email to 50forward@lancaster.gov.uk. Alternatively you can call in at one of the council’s customer service centres and speak to a member of staff. The centres are open Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm.
Information is available on a range of issues including:
Care services and home helps
Handyman scheme
Health and wellbeing
Housing
Transport
Leisure activities
Employment, training and volunteering opportunities
However, to help the 50Forward project deal with as wide a range of enquiries as possible in this way, Lancaster City Council needs your help.
If you can think of any other information or advice which might be needed by people over 50, please contact the customer services team on the above number.