Hello Towcester.

Here we are at the beginning of Spring, which shows promise of brighter times ahead. Fingers crossed.

The past two years have been challenging in every way and NHW has faced difficulties too.

We have had too few committee meetings and sadly we have lost members due to longstanding and valued people moving away from Towcester and leaving hard to fill gaps.

On a positive note we have been able to have some valuable meetings with our local Police force and in particular with the lovely Charlotte Morris, our Police Community Support Officer.

She recently hosted an evening at the town hall. The purpose of this was to recruit some new volunteers to our Streetwatch Group and for residents to meet some of our local Police officers.

We met a very interesting couple who have volunteered their services to the group and we are hopeful that we can attract more members as the year goes on.

We are particularly keen to have more of the younger generation on board, with fresh ideas on how to be more effective and on how to have more of a presence in the town, particularly as it is expanding in size so rapidly.

Previously, when many people with their roots here, knew each other and their families, it was easier to hear what was happening in and around the town and local villages. With communities expanding and many new families moving here, we need to embrace the still "smallish country town" atmosphere and share events, welcome new faces and encourage involvement, ensuring that our youngsters can grow up in friendly, safe surroundings and that our families and older residents can also feel safe and connected to their neighbours.

Our committee hope to come up with some fresh ideas on how to attract new people to our NHW and StreetWatch groups, both as committee members and interested parties.

If you have any ideas of events or other ways of bringing Towcester Neighbourhood Watch into the future, we would love to hear from you.

For more information on anything NHW :-

Please contact either Charlotte Morris charlotte.morris@northants.pnn.police.uk

Or

Peter Howard peter_87@btinternet.com

We look forward to meeting you in the coming year.

Best wishes

Carole Rohan (acting secretary)