Case Studies

Dave lives in the Upton Rocks area of Widnes and joined Neighbourhood Watch in February 2019. At that time, the ward area was plagued by severe anti-social behaviour, knife crime, drug use, vandalism, arson, and robberies. The local PCSO, Chris Carr appealed to residents for help in tackling these issues, and Dave came forward. Over the next six months, working relentlessly and together with Chris and the community, Dave was pivotal in setting up a Neighbourhood Watch Scheme and improving community safety. These efforts significantly reduced crime and Dave was nominated by Chris for the CNWA awards, winning New Neighbourhood Watch Coordinator of the Year in November 2019. For this article we interviewed Dave to get the full story.

How long have you been involved in Neighbourhood Watch?

I’ve been involved in the Neighbourhood Watch since January 2019 – just two years.

What prompted you to become a Neighbourhood Watch Coordinator?

Having moved to a new area of predominantly ‘new-build’ houses with my wife and nine year old daughter, I was very keen to integrate into our local community and to do what I could to make a positive contribution to my new neighbourhood. As with any new-build community, it takes a while for people to get to know one another and for that community to grow. I saw this as being something that I could become involved with and an opportunity to help in the formation of our neighbourhood community.

Did you find it straightforward to sign up and get your scheme started?

Yes, it was very straightforward. Once I made decision to become involved, I confirmed my commitment and had a meeting with my PCSO (Chris Carr) who was very supportive. I went out knocking on doors in my street and introduced myself to all the residents. I explained that I was starting up a Neighbourhood Watch Scheme for our area and if they would like to become involved as members. The response was fantastic! People were keen to be involved and after collating names and contact details, I distributed NW window stickers to each household that signed up. Once I had signed up the members I established a WhatsApp group which is an ideal form of media for instant messaging.

What activities did you start in your community?

At the time of forming our NW scheme, we experienced some incidents of anti-social behaviour in our local park. Youths had begun to congregate in the park and on the children’s playground, defacing the area and causing wilful damage to the playground itself. Local families felt intimidated by their presence and were reluctant to use the facility. After communicating with the members of our scheme we decided to re-claim the park and arranged a picnic in the park. We encouraged as many families as we could to meet in the park with a picnic and spent many hours enjoying the facilities. The following year, we held another event. A fun day supported by a local guides group who were raising funds for an international jamboree, provided barbeque and tombola, the local police were involved and brought along the police vehicles for the children to sit in. Older children held a football match whilst younger children enjoyed the facilities the park has to offer. In addition to such events, the scheme and its residents have fostered close relationships supporting the police and our local PCSO. By remaining vigilant as a community, we have reported on crime and ASB, provided CCTV footage to assist the police in crime prevention and supported one another through these difficult times since the pandemic, from taking in deliveries for neighbours to helping with shopping or errands for those that need it. 

What has been the impact of your Neighbourhood Watch Scheme on your community?

The NW scheme has brought people together. Provided a real sense of community spirit and helped the police in reporting incidents of ASB or crime. In addition, the WhatsApp facility has provided a mechanism for all our residents to communicate with one another and get an instant response. That in itself gives real peace of mind knowing that someone is always there if needed.

What would you say to anyone thinking of getting involved with Neighbourhood Watch, but maybe does not think they have the time, or doesn’t think that it will make any difference?

If you are thinking of setting up a scheme in your area, then I would wholeheartedly recommend it. To feel part of a community that cares about the area we live in and will help each other out is very reassuring.

Comments from PCSO Chris Carr who covers the Birchfield area of Widnes

I am PCSO 20378 Chris Carr. Over three years ago now I was assigned to the Birchfield ward in Widnes as the full time ward officer. The area itself is very nice, it has an established area with a newer Upton Rocks estate. At that time the estate had a row of shops and a park which were both suffering a massive amount of anti-social behaviour (ASB), criminal damage, alcohol and drug use, violence and robberies.

As the local PCSO I tried my best to resolve these matters but with limited success due to the sheer volume of youths that would frequent the area. At weekends this could amount to over 100 youths congregating at the park.

As you can imagine, the local community were up in arms and confidence in the police was at an all time low. I knew I needed to do something to get the community to engage with the police, report the ongoing issues and take a role in resolving the problem.

I decided to run a recruitment campaign for Neighbourhood Watch using social media. After a number of months without success Dave Brown contacted me expressing his interest in becoming a Coordinator for the estate where he lives. Within days Dave had set up the first Neighbourhood Watch scheme in the Birchfield. He went door to door recruiting his neighbours. His Neighbourhood Watch scheme was very successful, which in turn inspired other community members to get involved.

As part of his role Dave, along with others, instigated a community day in the park. With Dave’s help local people decided to frequent the park at key times so would be perpertators of ASB would feel reluctant to stay. This had a dramatic effect on the ongoing issues. Due to being part of the Neighbourhood Watch Network, Dave’s scheme has been able to utilise the insurance provided, free of charge, to put on these types of events.

I feel the best part of Dave’s work was getting the community to engage with the police once again. He fought our corner and residents responded positively to the police. Confidence in the police was restored, residents began to report issues and engage with me. The area improved dramatically.

There are still issues every now and then, as expected, but my area has gone from having the worst ASB hotspot in the borough to the area with the least ASB in Widnes. 

I feel Dave, as a Neighbourhood Watch Coordinator, was pivitol in this process. With Dave’s help and encouragement, the residents in my community are now much more willing to engage with me and work with me to solve any problems that we come up against.

Neighbourhood Watch Coordinators are pivitol for a successful beat area and a invaluable resource. 

Praised for volunteering efforts by Neighbourhood Watch, Willaston resident Ruth Hampshire is a true Neston role model.

In June last year, Willaston village resident Ruth Hampshire became a member of the Cheshire Neighbourhood Watch Association and set up a local Neighbourhood Watch scheme in her own street: The Courtyard, Willaston.

Ruth says: "The effects of COVID-19 lockdowns have been immense... but our community spirit here in Willaston has thrived."

The elderly have been disproportionately disadvantaged by the COVID-19 pandemic and many have suffered isolation, loneliness and may have fallen victim to scams. Many neighbours now hopefully know each other that bit better and firm friends have definitely been cemented in The Courtyard.

Ruth tells us it has been her pleasure to help neighbours, despite suffering from various debilitating health conditions herself. As a consequence of those conditions, Ruth has found the added pressures of lockdown restrictions extremely difficult at times and helping others has given her a sense of purpose and made her feel useful and valued.

Since the very first lockdown began, Ruth has assisted neighbours with weekly shopping and is now on week number 63. She has organised prescription requests and delivery, sourced hearing aid batteries and sorted transportation for COVID vaccinations.

Ruth has been conscious of loneliness and so has regularly made use of a telephone calling tree to get messages out efficiently. There have been numerous household issues that Ruth has also helped with, like smoke alarm issues, central heating failure, Wi-Fi problems and especially issues concerning online banking and phishing scams.

Getting friends virtually connected with family has been a big win for Ruth and she is actually now representing her community as a Cheshire West and Chester Council Community Champion, making sure important information is shared with others.

In November 2020 Ruth was invited to join the Cheshire Neighbourhood Watch Association AGM and Awards event via Zoom. She was surprised that she had been nominated for an award and completely shocked when told she had won: Ruth Hampshire is officially the Cheshire COVID-19 Community Volunteer of the Year Winner. You can read about Ruth and all of the other volunteers nominated across categories here.

Her award reads: "Ruth Hampshire: Ruth lives in Willaston near Neston and was nominated for volunteering to shop for her elderly immediate neighbours during the pandemic.

She set up a system for itemising the needs of 6 households and for managing payments efficiently, and every week she went to several shops to buy everything on their lists, including collecting prescriptions and hearing aid batteries, finally delivering to each door. She was commended not just for her commitment to her neighbours, but also for her caring and patient approach, which clearly made a huge difference to her vulnerable neighbours."

Ruth says: "Every nominee is deserved of thanks and praise for their time, efforts, thoughtfulness and ingenuity caring for neighbours and their community especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We're all in this together and I am so fortunate to live here in our lovely village of Willaston with neighbours that I call friends and local community groups who go out of their way to help and support each other during these troubling times."

One of Ruth's nominees fed back: "... Ruth unselfishly drove to a supermarket. She could only manage two lots of shopping in one go due to her own health problems which meant her queuing outside three times in order to complete the list for all six residents. At all times she was caring, cheerful and very very patient and in my opinion truly deserves to be recognised for her kindness during a very difficult time".

Ruth is often the only person shopping at Sainsbury's with a clip-board and pen on a string, an array of labelled bags in the trolley, using two or three hand-held scanners at a time. It is certainly a logistical challenge ensuring the right product is put into the right bag, that the correct number of items have been scanned for each separate customer and keeping the payment reconciliation spreadsheet up to date, using mobile banking for cheque re-imbursement of shopping costs.

She has praised the staff at Sainsbury's, Ellesmere Port, who have gone out of their way to help. It can take Ruth a couple of hours to shop using six separate shopping lists, whilst trying to locate items that are not familiar. 

Although lockdown restrictions are now being eased, Ruth intends to continue supporting her neighbours and the elderly in her community as best as she can, which is highly commendable after all of the effort she has already made.

Overlapping with Volunteers' Week is Neighbourhood Watch week 5 - 11 June 2021. Neighbourhood Watch is the largest crime prevention charity in the UK and they say: "If the pandemic has taught us one thing, it is that neighbourliness and community spirit is just as important as ever." They want us to: "... build on the connections we have made before and during lockdown. Let's stay connected!"