Thought for the week ....

"Yet unless the exchange be in love and kindly justice it will lead some to greed and others to hunger."

Kahlil Gibran

Smoke & Mirrors The Machine

NHS Cumbria Stop Smoking Service, don't be part of the machine.

Driving drugs out of Barrow

Barrow police have taken part in a crackdown on illegal drug use and supply in the town centre this weekend as part of Cumbria Constabulary’s confidence campaign.

Barrow CID’s drug squad, supported by British Transport Police and Barrow Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership (CDRP), organised an operation to combat illegal drug use in Barrow-in-Furness after residents raised concerns about drugs in the town.

On Saturday 20 February, officers along with BTP officers and passive drugs dogs conducted surprise visits to pubs and clubs in the area to help identify anyone who was carrying illegal substances. During the course of the evening, a dozen premises were visited and four people were arrested after small quantities of cannabis and what is believed to be cocaine were seized. A 17 year old male and an 18 year old male, both from Barrow, were arrested on suspicion of possessing a controlled drug. Another local man in his twenties was arrested by BTP on suspicion of possessing class A drugs. All were put on bail pending further enquiries.

A number of warrants were also conducted at premises on Gloucester Street and Keys Street. A quantity of heroin was recovered which led to the arrest of a 30 year old man from Barrow. He has also been placed on police bail until 19 February while enquiries continue.

Detective Sergeant Mike Brown from Barrow CID said: “This operation was organised in direct response to community concerns and to raise awareness of what we do all year round to combat drug-related crime in Barrow.

“We receive a great deal of intelligence from the community about illegal drugs in Barrow so it is obvious that it’s not just police that want to rid the streets of drugs, local residents won’t stand for it either. A lot of work goes on behind the scenes when we receive information from the community in order to build up clear pictures of the main offenders and networks in the area so we are able to take positive action through initiatives like this.

“Put simply, Illegal drugs ruin lives and we are dedicated to doing all we can to protect our communities and ridding our streets of drugs. Dedicated teams of officer’s work in our drugs teams across the county to keep a watchful eye on those we suspect to be offenders so that we can gain evidence and intervene at an early stage to prevent drugs from getting onto our streets.

“It’s really important that our communities keep telling us about those who are involved in drugs. Without this information, we would not be able to continue to bring the suppliers of drugs to justice, seize their assets and take away their freedom.

If you know or suspect someone of drug dealing then please pick up the phone or tell us what you know, and we will do the rest.”

Sergeant Garry Ashbridge of British Transport Police said: “We are pleased to be working with our colleagues in Cumbria to address the use and supply of illegal drugs.

“There is no doubt that illegal drugs have a negative effect on local communities and we are committed to taking action against those who seek to profit from criminal activity.

“As well as targeting licensed premises, we were also working at Barrow Rail Station to detect those bringing drugs into the town and deter others from carrying out anti-social or criminal behaviour.”

If you have any information about illegal drugs use or supply, please speak to your local police officer or call Cumbria police on 0845 33 00 247. To provide information anonymously, please call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Guest Blogger - It's our good friend Rosie Hillman ...

After music, literature, photography and travel, one of the other things guaranteed to inspire me is nature – especially at this time of year.

After a cold, hard winter of dark mornings, dark nights and not much that isn’t dark in between, it seems like some sunlight is starting to filter through, marking the beginning of the start of spring.

It is quite amazing what half an hour out walking in that low, golden sunshine can do for your body and mind – everything seems to glow.

At the risk of sounding like a walking tourism brochure for Barrow, we have such an abundance of wonderful coastline right here on our doorsteps, not to mention the great green spaces and award winning parks at our disposal.

You can also see nature working hard on your own street. Although admitting this may make me a complete nerd, one of my favourite things to do as we move into March is to go ‘blossom-spotting’. I take my camera out for a walk around the streets of Barrow and look out for the first buds of spring blossom. Some of the shades of pink and cream look amazing against a crisp, blue sky – it’s a photographers dream. (But do be prepared for some funny looks from passers by).

Another of my favourite ways to while away an hour is to hop on my bike and pedal my way over to Walney or Roanhead. A walk along the beach is the perfect way to clear away the cobwebs – and the cold sea air is almost guaranteed to help even the longest-suffering insomniac get a good nights sleep.

I, along with many other Barrovians, have definitely been guilty of complacency when it comes to getting out and exploring the surrounding areas. I was born and raised in Barrow and I sometimes get the feeling that I have seen everything there is to see around the town.

But even though it may take a monumental effort to prise myself away from my sofa and cup of tea, it never fails to be worthwhile.

From a bike ride through Rampside and across the causeway to Roa Island to a stroll around Barrow Park to look at the latest seasonal flowerbeds – the thing with Barrow is, if you look for it, it’s there.

One of the nicest experiences I had recently was when some friends from Manchester travelled to Barrow to visit. They live on the outskirts of the city but work long, taxing hours in the centre. As a family, one of their favourite things is the UK’s coastline and their family holidays are usually spent exploring different beaches.

During their stay, my boyfriend and I  took them to a beach at the south end of Walney. The sky was black and the wind was throwing waves up on to the beach and seagulls up into the air. It was fantastic to see our friends’ flushed cheeks and happy smiles as they took it in turns skimming stones into the sea.

When things got a bit too chilly, we bundled them into the car and drove to Roa Island. We chose tasty ice creams from The Bosun’s Locker and strolled out to have a look around the RNLI lifeboat station.

Our friends didn’t want to leave and told us how lucky they thought we were to live in Barrow – I think they were right.

So if you’re after some inspiration, make that little bit of effort and get out and explore the local area, even if it’s the streets around your home – you never know what you might find…

Thought for the week ...

"Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing." Mother Teresa

http://www.1000smilingfaces.blogspot.com/

Why not become our friend on Facebook

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Next Guest Blogger coming soon ...

Sometime within the next week we'll have another great guest blog from our good friend Rosie Hillman ...

Community Press Facilitator http://www.nwemail.co.uk/home/community_press_2_3646

Photographer http://www.photosbyrosie.co.uk/

Singer/musician http://www.myspace.com/aprilmaybemay

... and all round good egg. We're looking forward to it ... and so are you, aren't you?

Barrow Police operation to crack down on traffic offences

Barrow Neighbourhood Policing Teams are responding to the concerns of the community by tackling speeding and anti-social motorists in a bid to make the town’s roads safer.

Police and PCSO’s are set to launch an operation to target motorists who speed through the areas of Michaelson Road, Andrew’s crossing, Island Road, Ramsden Dock Road and on Farm Street outside Bram Longstaffe School. This comes after local residents brought speeding and inconsiderate driving to police attention at Safer Stronger Community meetings earlier this month.

To address the issue, high visibility officers will be patrolling the hotspot areas and will also be in and around the areas of Athol Street, St Andrews Street to watch out for drivers who contravene road safety signs and travel the wrong way down one way streets. Officers will also be targeting anti-social motorists who park outside schools on Barrow Island and cars parked on pavements on Dundalk Street and Dunvegan Street.

The operation will run from Monday 15th February to Friday 19th February to coincide with the Constabulary’s Confidence Campaign, which aims to highlight the work going on in each neighbourhood to tackle community policing priorities.

Sergeant Paul Madden said: “Our community feels very strongly about irresponsible motorists who drive too fast or park anti-socially in the area – which is why it has been raised as a main policing priority.

“Road safety is an issue that concerns everyone and through this operation, we hope to send a strong message to all motorists who are putting people’s lives at risk. A number of ‘hotspot’ areas have been highlighted to us by the community which has helped to shape our operation. These include roads around our local schools - areas where drivers should be slowing right down, rather than speeding up.

“As well as enforcing the law by issuing speeding tickets and fixed penalty notices, we intend to illustrate the problem through posters that will be put up in local shops and businesses to urge people to think about their actions.”

To have your say on policing in Barrow Island, go to your next Safer Stronger Community meeting on Thursday 17th June at 6.30pm which is being held at Dundalk St Community Centre.

Thought for the week ...

"A theory stops being a theory when you start using it."

Biggs (1993)

Hindpool 'Cook and Eat' on our Flickr

More here Flickr: Your Photostream

Cumbria Constabulary lauch campaign to build on public confidence success

Picture left shows Assistant Chief Constable Jerry Graham with a bus displaying the new posters.

Cumbria Constabulary is set to launch a new campaign to keep local residents informed about the Constabulary’s performance so they can remain confident that the force is one of the best in the country for dealing with crime and anti-social behaviour.

The month-long campaign that is set to be launched on 15 February follows on from the impressive statistics released by the Home Office last month that confirmed that Cumbria Constabulary is one of the top forces nationally for inspiring confidence in the public. Fifty six per cent of local people agreed that police are dealing with the anti-social behaviour and crime issues that matter in their area and 62 per cent agreed that police deal with local concerns.

In a bid to build upon this success, police plan to shine a light on the work that officers do within neighbourhoods so that residents understand exactly what is being done in their community and why. Officers hope that the campaign will give the public the confidence to engage with the Constabulary to report crime, raise issues and share information and understand the steps the officers take to improve the quality of life in Cumbria.

Assistant Chief Constable Jerry Graham said: “Our recent 10 per cent reduction in overall crime in Cumbria is fantastic news for the Constabulary and I’m so pleased that our communities are confident about the effort that police and our partners put into driving down crime across the county.

“This campaign is being launched to highlight our high standards of performance that would not be possible without the support of our communities who work so closely with us to make our streets safer in Cumbria.

“The satisfaction of the people we serve is what is most important to the force and the high levels of confidence our officers instil in the public is a result of the hard work that has gone into fulfilling the promises we made to our communities through our Policing Pledge. We want to encourage our communities to engage with us and let us know of ways they think we can improve our service and the overall quality of people’s lives in Cumbria.

“By informing our communities more of what goes on within the Constabulary and out in their communities, we hope that the public’s level of confidence in our service will continue to rise.”

Ray Cole, Chair of Cumbria’s Police Authority said: “I’m very proud of the Constabulary’s performance – not only in my role as Chair of Cumbria Police Authority but also as a resident and active member of a Cumbrian community.

“The sterling work that goes on in our county is testament to the quality of officers that are out on our streets keeping Cumbria as safe and pleasant as it has always been

“The Police Authority works on behalf of the people of Cumbria and I hope that our communities give officers the recognition they deserve for their hard work and dedication.”

Cumbria Constabulary’s confidence campaign will see officers distribute posters amongst communities, on public buses and on ATM machines to raise awareness of the issues that police are addressing as top priorities in each area.

Thought for the week ...

"It takes a whole village to raise a child."

African proverb

Thanks to the inestimable Inspector Geoff Steele for this one. We've just returned from a great Safer and Healthier Schools conference, of which this was the title, excellent conference. Looking forward to becoming more involved in the whole process.

For more details about the Safer Schools concept, how to become involved etc. contact us here and we'll point you in the right direction.

'Vague but Exciting' - Guest blog spot from Inspector Geoff Steele (Cumbria Constabulary)

Here's the first, and excellent, guest blog post ... it comes from Inspector Geoff Steele of Cumbria Constabulary who works here in Barrow. Geoff is writing from his viewpoint as one of the Campaign Leaders for our Inspiring Communities project and not on behalf of Cumbria Constabulary. None of the views expressed in his post necessarily, or are intended to, reflect or represent the views and policies of Cumbria Constabulary.

'Vague but exciting'

When Steve (from Central and Hindpool Neighbourhood Management Team) asked me to be a 'Guest Blogger' I had no idea what I would write about and still don’t. Having stressed myself, I have decided just to stick with my normal stream of conscious style and blog my thoughts about last weekend (ending on Sunday 31st January)

I started with a list of stuff that happened since Friday;

- Celebrate a colleague’s retirement

- Internet

- Tufty Club Re-union - there will be folk out there, particularly Barrovians, who understand this one (my onyx role was a taxi driver for my wife.)

- Do it yourself-a minor and rare success with a door - did involve use of drills and glue (real sense of pride here)

- Sky Plus - the 8th wonder of the world

Anyway having started to waffle - I am hoping to wind into my poor grammar some themes, which relate vaguely to “inspiration”. Anyway the weekend’s best bits;

I’m off work and have just enjoyed a great Sunday Lunch at Dalton http://www.crooklandsgardencentre.co.uk/ together with my family.

Inspiration needs good food and family!

I was allowed Banoffe pie which rendered pointless this morning’s trip to the Gym http://www.theparkleisurecentre.com/

Knowledge and heroes

Today’s web access has included watching an interesting documentary
http://www.bbc.co.uk/virtualrevolution/ on the web which featured one of my heroes, Tim Berners- Lee http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Berners-Lee.

This lead to my blog title – unless you already know the story follow the links and consider how rich he could have been if he had been of the same school as Bill Gates.

Have been fascinated by all stuff nuclear since I was a child and was excited by the news that a significant step forward has been made in the search to create the power of the sun on earth http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8485669.stm
Inspiration needs exercise/sport!

As a creature of the web have also visited Barrow Raiders related sites to see what is getting the Barrow Raiders fan base talking regarding the coming season, this reminded me of this great photo http://www.barrowrlfc.com/ and the unexpected successes of last year

Anyone who was at Warrington and was part of the six thousand or so Barrovians (and in my case adopted Barrovians) in the crowd will have no doubt we deserve, and should work together, to get the Stadium the town needs so desperately.

Inspiration needed imagination and dreams (and a climate where imagination is encouraged) and heroes as role models (preferably not individuals whose sole claim to fame is fame itself).

Looking ahead my forthcoming week’s work will hopefully culminate in a conference about ‘Safer Schools’ my team and I have organised, supported by local partners.

The conference is themed “It takes a village to raise a child” and aims to celebrate the work of local schools and how they act as hubs linking communities-education and young people.

Inspiration needs good relationships and understanding.

I am passionate and can be argumentative about what really matters when it comes to our health safety and success. I really think we need to get to get a better grip on the reality that we will be healthy if we live healthy lives, will be safe if we care for our neighbours and will be successful if we encourage and support all our children. Institutions such as the police and health service deal with symptoms but they aren’t going to fix the world that, unfortunately, still sits with you and me.

Inspiration needs people to challenge and ask difficult questions.

So Share a Smile – Inspector Geoff Steele, Cumbria Constabulary.

Communication or engagement?

http://wearesocial.net/blog/2010/02/communication-engagement/

Barrow Island residents called to vote on local priorities

Officers and PCSOs from Barrow Islands’ Neighbourhood Policing Team are holding a Safer Stronger Community Meeting this week to ask local residents for their opinion on what issues police should tackle.

On Wednesday 3rd February at 6.30pm, officers will be at Dundalk Street Community Hall, Barrow Island to hear from local residents about the problems that concern them most in their area.

Inspector David Bosson said: “We want to hear from local people about what they think we should tackle in their neighbourhoods as part of our policing pledge.

“Community meetings are a great chance for residents to engage with us and it also gives us the chance to find out what they think the main issues are on Barrow Island. We want people to come forward and voice their concerns so that we can work together to make the area an even nicer and safer place to live.”

Inspector Bosson and members of the policing team will be on hand to chat to local residents. The meetings are just one of a number of opportunities that your Neighbourhood Policing Team will provide for you to have your say. Anyone who is unable to attend and would like to share their views or just speak to their local community officer can contact the community team by popping into the police station or calling 0845 33 00 247.

Look after your heart

Three ways to love your heart http://goo.gl/fb/a5X4

Town centre residents inform police of local issues

Barrow 3 Neighbourhood Policing Team that covers the town centre west part of the town held a ‘Safer Stronger Community’ meeting this week to find out what issues local residents wanted them to tackle.

On Monday 25th January, Inspector David Bosson, Sergeant Paul Madden, PCSO’s Helen Phifer, Carol Westall and Tracy Livingston were all on hand, with representatives from other agencies such as the Fire Service and Barrow Council, to discuss community issues during a public meeting in the Central & Hindpool Neighbourhood Management Offices on Dalton Road.

Officers gave updates on current crime levels and what they were doing alongside partners to address the issues that residents had raised in previous meetings.

Inspector David Bosson said: “As part of our policing pledge, we are committed to engaging with our community so that local residents have their say on what issues we should be tackling. The latest meeting was well received and has proved to be very rewarding and informative for both the residents and the police.

 

“Residents have told us that dog fouling around the Albert, Church & Ramsden Street area was their top priority, along with antisocial behaviour during the evening that spills from the town centre and affects St Vincent Street, Duke Street, Coulton Street and Harrison & Lord Streets.

“These sorts of issues can have a real effect on the quality of life for residents in the area so to address these problems we will increase police patrols in the affected areas and will work alongside other key agencies to find solutions. PCSOs will be deployed to issue penalties to irresponsible dog owners and a high visibility police presence should help deter antisocial behaviour occurring around the town.”

The Neighbourhood Policing Team will be holding its next Safer Stronger Community Meeting on Wednesday 3 February 2010 at 6.30pm in Dundalk Street Community Hall where an update on these issues will be given. All residents are encouraged to attend to meet their local policing team and have their chance to shape policing in their area.

The meetings are just one of a number of opportunities that your Neighbourhood Policing Team will provide for you to have your say. Anyone who is unable to attend and would like to share their views or just speak to their local community officer can contact the community team by popping into the police station or calling 0845 33 00 247.