‘‘Neighbourhood Watch is about people coming together to look out for one another and making our communities safer and more pleasant places to live and work’
We also aim to promote neighbourliness and community cohesion by helping people feel safe and looking out for our neighbours’.
The above two sentences, in my view, are vitally important and reflect vital ingredients for safe communities in this day and age and representative of what we see on a daily basis in Cumbria.
A warm welcome to David Allen as our Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner who was also a member of Cumbria Police some years ago. David has been in post for his first year and already we have seen the positive impact that he has made in our Communities and long may that continue.
I am pleased to confirm that Cumbria Neighbourhood Watch Association has now converted the Charitable Company to a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO). This has been achieved as a direct result of the hard and intensive work done by our Board member, Lorrainne Smyth to whom we are extremely grateful.
Our work involving Video Doorbells continues to good effect. We have now been involved in this project for some years now and in that time we have fitted a huge number on behalf of Cumbria Police and Victim Support and as a result they have proved incredibly successful with no repeat incidents recorded as a result. The use of Video Doorbells has created a real sense of support and safety for those people we have helped and long may this continue. The success of this project has been dependant on funds being made available by the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioners Community Funds.
Following the work we were involved in relating to the Digital Voice Pilot project with BT, we were asked to continue this work during the latter end of 2024 and early 2025 during which time we again visited Libraries around the County. This work continued to highlight some of the real issues that rural communities are faced with in relation to power cuts and poor mobile phone signal quality.
Our AGM this year will be held at Brampton Community Centre on Friday 31 October starting at 2 pm. Our focus at the AGM relates to the Digital Switchover and with this in mind Julie Minns, MP, has agreed to join us to talk about her work involving BT and other stakeholders involved in this work. Along with other Cumbrian Members of Parliament, Julie has been working to resolve the issues communities face so it makes for an interesting meeting to learn how this has progressed.
If you can make it to the AGM I’m sure you will find it very much worthwhile and I look forward to seeing you there. Refreshments will be available as well.
Following our AGM I will be happy to visit communities and groups to talk about the Digital switchover and the impact it will have together with the help and support that is available to the elderly and vulnerable. If you have a group or community that you would like to hear about this issue, just get in touch at cumbrianwa@aol.com I will also be circulating this information via our Community Messaging System.
Last but not least, we will soon be offering the opportunity to replace Neighbourhood Watch signs. If you require a replacement sign etc just let me know and I will ensure you get them.
That’s all for now, many thanks for your patience and support and hope as many of you as possible can make to the AGM on 31 October.
Kind regards
J Murray
Joe Murray QPM Chair and Trustee of Cumbria Neighbourhood Watch Association
Charity Registration Number 1146846
Cumbria Neighbourhood Watch Association Charitable Incorporated Organisation Unaudited Financial Statements 31 March 2025
Cumbria Neighbourhood Watch Association
Charitable Incorporated Organisation
Trustees Annual Report (Including the Chairmans report) Year ended 31 March 2025
The trustees present their report and the unaudited financial statements of the charity for the year ended 31 March 2025.
Reference and administrative details
Registered charity name Cumbria Neighbourhood Watch Association Charity registration number 1146846 Principle office and registered office Action With Communities in Cumbria Room 11, Redhills House, Penrith CA11 0DT
The trustees J Murray JM Derbyshire L Smyth T Watt D Allen G Murray W Ingham Treasurer C Makin
Cumbria Neighbourhood Watch Association
Charitable Incorporated Organisation Trustees Annual Report (Including Chairmans report) Year Ended 31 March 2025
Structure, governance and management
The charity is also a Charitable Incorporated Organisation as amended by a special resolution dated 7 November 2024 at our AGM.
Cumbria neighbourhood Watch Association has a Management Committee who are responsible for the strategic direction and policy of the Charity. The Committee has members from a variety of professional backgrounds relevant to the work of the charity.
The Management Committee are responsible for the appointment of new Trustees. Prospective Trustees are approached to join the Committee on the basis of added knowledge and skills that they hold and that these may be beneficial to the Charity.
In so far as is complementary to the Charity’s objectives, the Charity is guided by both local and national policy.
The Charity have no specific identified risks, however, before a project is undertaken it is discussed at Committee level and minuted accordingly. Procedures and policies will be regularly reviewed to ensure that they continue to meet the needs of the Charity.
Objectives and activities
The objective of the Charity is to promote good citizenship and greater public participation in the prevention of crime and community safety, in particular by the effective liaison between the Police, the Local Authorities and similar bodies and public in order to promote the efficiency of same in the County of Cumbria.
The main objectives and activities for the year continued to focus upon the prevention of crime and building of safer and stronger communities in line with local and national strategies.
Achievements and performance
We continue to secure funding for video doorbells which allows us to distribute these units to vulnerable members of the community as advised by the Police. Such has been the success of this initiative, we will endeavour to expand this service to other parts of the County as well depending on funding being made available.
A specific piece of work this past 12 months has seen us work with BT to engage with a number on rural and urban communities to explain the introduction of the Digital Switchover. This work will be the focus of our impending AGM and will continue into 2026 to ensure as many elderly and vulnerable people are informed and prepared for this changeover.
CHARITY No. 1146846
CUMBRIA NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH ASSOCIATION
RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS ACCOUNT
YEAR ENDING 31 MARCH 2025
| RESTRICTED FUNDS |
UNRESTRICTED FUNDS |
TOTAL | LAST YEAR |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RECEIPTS Digital Voice Project PF&CC Doorbells Funding PAYMENTS Data Protection fee Digital Voice expenses Purchase of doorbells Neighbourhood Watch signs Publicity and leaflets Total NET RECEIPTS CASH FUNDS 31 MARCH 2024 CASH FUNDS 31 MARCH 2025 |
0 640 640 -640 4035 3395 |
1000 1000 35 227 262 738 11621 12359 |
1000 0 |
2719 2500 |
|
| 1000 35 227 640 0 0 |
5219 35 410 780 643 |
||||
| 902 | 1868 | ||||
| 98 15656 |
3351 | ||||
| 15754 | |||||
STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES AT 31 MARCH 2025
| Farmwatch Doorbells Unrestricted TOTAL CASH FUNDS TOTAL NET ASSETS |
RESTRICTED FUNDS 535 2860 3395 3395 |
UNRESTRICTED FUNDS 12359 12359 12359 |
TOTAL 535 2860 12359 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15754 | |||
| 15754 | |||