Scambuster

Scams are schemes to con you out of your money.

They usually come by post, phone or email.

There are hundreds of scams – fake lotteries and prize draws, get-rich-quick schemes, bogus health cures, investment scams, pyramid selling. The list goes on.

Every year, three million people fall victim in the UK, often losing hundreds or even thousands of pounds. The scammers are clever, and all kinds of people from all walks of life get duped. There’s a scam for everyone – no matter how alert or clued up you think you are.

This helpful guide produced by the Office of Fair Trading, gives advice on how to spot, report and protect yourself from scams.

Click on this link for the Scambuster leaflet

Find out more about mental health services

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FREE event for service-users, carers or anyone with an interest in mental health

Come along and talk with Adult Mental Health service providers about what 

• What opportunities are on offer
• What services are available
• How you can access them
• What excellent work organisations are doing

On Friday 27 May 
Drop in any time between 10.30am – 12pm 
At Harlequin room, Guildhall

For more information call James Gagliardini, service user involvement worker: 
023 9268 8623 or 07834 750981

Apathy and engagement

I came across this interesting video from TED about the challenges of engagement and local politics in Canada.

The question is: In this busy world we live in- can you spare 10 mins to watch it?

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Hampshire Fire & Rescue's Community Contact Point at Baffins Neighbourhood Forum

Budget presentation Baffins neighbourhood forum

Budget presentation Baffins neighbourhood forum

Do you have a question about Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust?

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Could your idea improve processes and procedures at the Trust? 

Then why not come along to your constituency meeting and talk to the elected members of the Trust’s Council of Governors and a Trust representative.

Constituency meetings are held twice a year to give you an opportunity to tell your Governors what you think of the hospital and to be informed of new developments within the Trust.

Community Contact Point

Is your forum committee thinking about different ways to meet/survey residents, planning a walkabout or community event?

The Community Contact Point is a purpose-built partnership and multi agency resource, supported by Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service's Community Safety Department and local firefighters.

The use of this community asset is free of charge and can be shared with you to help with initiatives that work towards making Portsmouth safer.

The vehicle is crewed and delivered by two members of Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service and its design allows for a lift-up flap side with detachable awning sides and front. 

The Community Contact Point comes complete with:

• Three computers with full (free) internet access
• Free DVD facilities
• Free Sky TV
• Wheelchair access
• Smart Screen which can be used for education purposes
• Television screen
• Kitchen to provide refreshments

For further information or to book the vehicle, please contact portsmouth.ccp@hantsfire.gov.uk or ring 023 9285 5124.

Child car seat safety checks

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Last year there was a 90% fail rate on the seats that the road safety team checked. Most were fitted incorrectly but many were incompatible with the model of car. 

Children are still killed in car accidents because they are not properly restrained. You can best protect your children by putting them in a properly fitted seat which is appropriate for their weight and size. 

Flames & Finance at Baffins Forum

The next meeting of the Baffins Neighbourhood Forum will be a bit different.

As well as holding an Annual General Meeting (AGM), the forum will be hosting an open workshop on the community engagement blog and how social media can be used to organise activities in the local community.

Hampshire Fire & Rescue service's community contact point (CCP) will be at Langstone Jnr School from 6pm for a drop-in session. Come and join us if you have a local issue you want to raise or would like to get up to speed on the forum's growing on-line presence. If you would like to get more involved with the Baffins Forum and take on a committee role- Now's your chance!

The AGM will be held at 7.30pm and is open to nominations from local residents. If you are interested in a post please contact Forum Secretary, Allan Nevett on 023 92 610 541 or email: bnhfsec@gmail.com

Fire service colleagues will be on hand to provide practical fire safety advice for your home, as well as giving a short talk at 7pm on fire prevention. Hampshire Police will also join us to update the forum and answer your questions. The CCP also has Sky TV on board and we will be showing video presentations throughout the evening.

From 7.45pm in the school there will be a Question & Answers session with Roger Ching, the city council's finance director. Roger will take all your questions about the 2011 budget and the forecast for next year.

Why not come along?

Wednesday 11th May 2011 @6pm-9.30pm, Langstone Junior School, Lakeside Avenue Copnor

Google Map of Location

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Draft Parks and Open Spaces Strategy

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Portsmouth City Council’s parks service has recently published their draft Parks and Open Spaces Strategy. It can be found at http://www.portsmouth.gov.uk/living/20574.html.

The strategy sets out the vision and aims for Portsmouth’s parks and open spaces for the next 10 years. The city’s parks and open spaces are used by 9 out of 10 residents, and the views of parks users and other interested groups are paramount to the way they are managed.

The strategy is still at draft stage, and the parks service would welcome any comments during the 6 week consultation period.

The consultation period will finish on 31^st May 2011, after which the strategy will be reviewed in light of comments received. It is intended to bring the strategy back to the council’s cabinet shortly afterwards for adoption.

Comments can be sent to parks@portsmouthcc.gov.uk.

Answers to some of the specific comments from the feedback survey

Please note that this blog was targeted at those individuals that had asked to be included in the mailing that used to be sent out each week by the neighbourhood forum support officer, we made the decision to try using a blog instead of a weekly email to allow an archive of information and useful links to be built up.  We have started to direct interested residents to the blog since.

To navigate around the site there are several options, you can use the LABELS on the left hand side which allow you to choose a theme of articles to read by clicking on a keyword (the size of the keyword shows the relative number of articles in that group), or the BLOG ARCHIVE where you can click on the year followed by the month to view the titles of the articles published that month. You can then click on the article you wish to read.  Clicking on the tabs underneath the “Neighbourhood Forum Update” title (Home, Planning application summaries, etc.) will take you to the page of that specific information or return you to the home page.   On the home page you can read articles in order by scrolling down the screen until you get to the calendar where you will have the option of returning  ‘Home’ or reading ‘Older Posts’, once you have moved off the home page you will also have the option of viewing ‘Newer Posts’ to go back again.  Larger articles have been split so that there is not too much information on the screen, if you are interested in a particular article just click on ‘read more’ to open the rest of the article.

To change the size of the font you will have to use the view feature on your web browser (once you click on the view tab it will say something like zoom or text size) it should allow you to change the font size.

If you would like to submit an article for inclusion on the blog please email neighourhood.forums@portsmouthcc.gov.uk  with blog article as the subject.

A couple of people said they would be interested in a blog for their forum so we will be following up how best to support them with that.

Only one person wanted a beginners session on blogs, so we will not be organising a course at this time but will be supporting on an individual level.

To make use of the calendar, the top bar has several buttons
 

on the left the Today button will always get you back to today’s page, the two arrow buttons will move you backwards and forwards through the calendar and clicking on the name of the month will open a small calendar that can be used to jump to the day you are interested in, on the right hand side you can choose how you view the calendar, either weekly, monthly or as a list, the print button allows you to produce a printed version of the calendar (if you have a printer).  To use the bottom of the calendar just click on the item you are interested in and a balloon with more details will be available, you can then click on the ‘(map)’, ‘more details’ and ‘copy to my calendar’ options that will open a map of the venue, give you any more details that are available or copy the event/item into your google calendar, if you have one.

Unfortunately the blog is not able to handle a discussion forum for swapping ideas very well, so we are looking at other services that could help us to do so.

We have included a link on the right hand side to Police.uk, the local crime and policing website for England and Wales which has helpful information about crime and policing in your area.

If you have any more queries or suggestions please contact neighourhood.forums@portsmouthcc.gov.uk  with blog query as the subject.

If you no longer wish to be notified of updates to the blog please email neighourhood.forums@portsmouthcc.gov.uk  with blog unsubscribe as the subject.

Feedback Report

The feedback Survey is now closed and of the 220 people emailed regular reminders only 9 completed the survey, details of which are shown below: However in the two weeks that the survey was running, the blog has had 275 hits 35 of whom looked at the survey and the feedback articles. Comments made will be investigated and where possible and practical acted upon. To view the results click Which pages do you look at?

Home 6 75% Home (archive) 0 0% Planning application summaries 4 50% Forum review papers 5 63% Printing notification deadlines 2 25% People could select more than one checkbox, so percentages may add up to more than 100%.

Which articles do you find most useful?
	Forthcoming events 7 88% Planning summaries 3 38% Potential presentations 2 25% Printing deadlines 2 25% Review papers 3 38% Training opportunities 3 38% Useful information 5 63% None 1 13% Other 0 0% People could select more than one checkbox, so percentages may add up to more than 100%.

Would you like to be able to submit your own articles?
	Yes 4 44% No 4 44% Not Sure 1 11%

Have you used the links on the right hand side?
	Yes 5 56% No 4 44% What are links? 0 0%

Do you use the calendar at the bottom of the page?
		Yes 3 33% No 6 67% How do you use the calendar? 0 0%
Number of daily responses

Connecting to Recovery

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Are you recovering or in recovery?
This conference is led by YOU and for YOU!
Come to this conference and see successful substance misuse recovery initiatives in the south east and see how you can help to make a difference and to spread good practice.

Building Communities in the South East
a peer-led & facilitated conference
on Thursday 7th April 2011
at Portsmouth Guildhall
from 10.00am - 4.45pm


To register for this conference please e-mail:
connect2recovery@gmail.com
or phone: 023 9268 8711

Jubilee Eco Terrace

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84 Jubilee Terrace is a council-owned property with a difference.
Built at the turn of the twentieth century, the family home has been refurbished using modern eco-friendly techniques. The house is being showcased as an example of what environmentally-friendly methods can be employed in an average city home to improve efficiency and save its occupants money

Open Days
The eco terrace is throwing its doors open so you can see what they've done to the house, and what you could do to your own home to make it warmer, cheaper to run and make it better for the environment.
The house is open on 13 April (9:30am - 4pm), 14 April (2 - 7pm) and 19 April (9:30am - 4pm).
 
If you’d like to know more about the project or the open days, email housing.corp.initiatives@portsmouthcc.gov.uk or call 023 9283 4729 to register for the project updates.

See more on this story at http://www.portsmouth.gov.uk/living/20023.html

Feedback Response Summary

These are the results of the feedback survey so far, if you haven't responded so far please do so by clicking here to take the survey (there are only eight questions so it will not take long, please do not forget to click on the submit box at the bottom of the survey or we will not receive your answers)

Which pages do you look at?
	Home 75% Home (archive) 0% Planning application summaries 50% Forum review papers 63% Printing notification deadlines 25% People may select more than one checkbox, so percentages may add up to more than 100%.

Which articles do you find most useful?
	Forthcoming events 88% Planning summaries 38% Potential presentations 25% Printing deadlines 25% Review papers 38% Training opportunities 38% Useful information 63% None 13% Other 0% People may select more than one checkbox, so percentages may add up to more than 100%.

Would you like to be able to submit your own articles?
	Yes 44% No 44% Not Sure 11% People may select more than one checkbox, so percentages may add up to more than 100%.

Have you used the links on the right hand side?
	Yes 56% No 44% What are links? 0% People may select more than one checkbox, so percentages may add up to more than 100%.

Do you use the calendar at the bottom of the page?
	Yes 33% No 67% How do you use the calendar? 0%

Portsmouth’s Favourite Trees

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Do you know of an outstanding tree?

Portsmouth and Southsea Tree Wardens Would like to hear from you.

It may be particularly old or big for its species or it may have wildlife or landscape value. It could have been the centre of great events or linked to a famous person. It could even be rare. It does not have to be a native tree; it could be an exotic or even a fruit or hedgerow tree. The Den Haag Elm is a fine example on Southsea Common.

They would like to invite every Ward within the City, to nominate up to three favourite trees. They intend to publish a booklet of the chosen trees and possibly produce a calendar featuring twelve of these trees. Entries will be judged by a panel of experts.

This is a chance to recommend a tree of your choice and contribute to a local (and national) record.

Feedback on this blog

Dear colleagues

This blog has now been active since December 2010, could you please help us to evaluate how we are doing by completing the short survey available by clicking on the "Read more" link below

The survey will close on March 25th

To Tweet or not to Tweet?

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An Introduction to Social Media and Social Networking

Are you looking for new ways to collaborate, communicate, share information and resources and engage new people to your voluntary group or organisation? Have you heard about social software tools such as Twitter and Facebook but never used them or been able to see how they could be useful to you or your organisation?

Come along to a hands-on practical workshop where you’ll have the opportunity to explore the potential of a number of tools such as Twitter, Skype, Youtube and Friendfeed.

The workshop will also consider the issues associated with using social software tools and look at practical steps that can be taken to minimise the risks.

Politics and Debating Society, One World Week Debate, 2nd March 2011:

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Faith, Sex and Bed & Breakfasts
A debate on the clash between sexuality rights and faith rights.
On the panel there will be members from the Christian Union, LGBT Society and Law Society amongst others.
It starts at 6.30pm in Buckingham Building (University of Portsmouth), room 3.05.