Aymestrey Parish Council

Received 9 January 2021
Good Afternoon All,

Firstly, we would like to wish you all a happy and safe New Year.

We are now well into our third lockdown and on the whole the majority of local people are adhering to the guidelines for which we are very thankful. We understand that it is still immensely difficult for some people to be isolated in their homes. There is help out there, the difficult first part is always reaching out for it. Just a few ways below if you want to share to community forums or newsletters:

Use the NHS 111 online service, or call 111.

These services also offer confidential advice from trained volunteers.

• Call 116 123 to talk to Samaritans, or email: jo@samaritans.org for a reply within 24 hours
• Text “SHOUT” to 85258 to contact the Shout Crisis Text Line, or text “YM” if you’re under 19

If you’re under 19, you can also call 0800 1111 to talk to Childline. The number will not appear on your phone bill

The vaccination role out has sadly seen scammers try and take advantage of those most vulnerable due their jabs by way of fake texts and emails.

This URL (the link) takes you through to an extremely convincing fake NHS website that asks for your personal details and also for bank/card details in order to ‘check your identity’. Please advise your elderly friends/relatives and remind them never to give out bank details.

This week has seen us working with our colleagues in Dyfed-Powys on our patch in relation to a warrant for two rural properties believed to be involved in rural crime. Sadly on this occasion the warrant was negative but the message is clear to our communities, we are actively looking for the perpetrators of rural thefts and rural crime, even if it was -3 and snowing in part!

That’s it for now, but if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Kind regards

Steph, on behalf of Leominster SNT.

Pcso Stephanie Harper 6440
Police Community Support Officer | SNT Leominster  | West Mercia Police

Enterprise Way, Leominster, Herefordshire, HR6 0LZ
Mobile: 07773043483  Direct Dial: 01432 347217 Ext. 7723019

Team email: leominster.snt@westmercia.pnn.police.uk

Received 24 December 2020.
In the last article I re-introduced the safer neighbourhood team, so this time I thought you would like to meet police dog Jackson, who has been a frequent visitor to our station since he was a puppy. Pd Jackson and his handler Pc Davies have this week arrested a drink driver who blew 131 on the road side breathalyser, which is nearly 4 times the legal drink drive limit of 35mg.

Don’t be fooled by Pd Jacksons Christmassy demeanour, he is a fierce protector of his ‘mum’ and has really big teeth 🙂

Two people from Leominster have been arrested on warrants as they had failed to appear in court, two people have been arrested for drink/drug drive offences and one male has been arrested for burglary offences.

A couple of incidents of note: There has been a couple of burglary incidents at rural isolated shops and businesses whereby thieves are looking for cash and cigarettes. There has also been a theft of lead from a rural Church which we haven’t seen happen for a while. All these incidents are around the Aymestrey and Wigmore area, but obviously it is worth all our rural villages having this in mind to watch out for.

Rights that’s it for now keeping it short and to the point. As always if you have questions, please don’t hesitate to give one of us shout.

From all of the safer neighbourhood team, we wish a very Merry and safe Christmas

Kind regards
Steph

Pcso Stephanie Harper 6440
Police Community Support Officer | SNT Leominster | West Mercia Police
Enterprise Way, Leominster, Herefordshire, HR6 0LZ
Mobile: 07773043483 Direct Dial: 01432 347217 Ext. 7723019
Team email: leominster.snt@westmercia.pnn.police.uk

The winter 2020 Aymestrey Matters is now available on the website.

Please visit the Aymestrey Matters page or click on this link

“From lunchtime Friday 11th December you can view the weekly summary about the impact of Covid-19 in Herefordshire on our website. It includes analysis of the published data on cases and deaths, as well as other statistics about numbers of tests carried out and the age profile of confirmed cases. It also incorporates other useful information, as it becomes available, about the wider impacts and vulnerabilities in the county.

The Talk Community Covid-19 helpline continues to operate for those more vulnerable residents who are unable to source support from family, friends or their local community. Please contact us on 01432 260027 or email talkcommunityhelpline@herefordshire.gov.uk or go to Coronavirus – Talk Community support for more information and to complete an online support form.

GP update – vaccinations
General Practice in Herefordshire is preparing to start vaccination against coronavirus in the coming days. The programme is at a very early stage with more vaccine likely to be available to us by the New Year. Though we will be administering the vaccine we know that we have this privilege as the result of the effort of thousands of people in this country and abroad. The programme will be long but the fight has begun. We must not relax our protective measures as we will need time to complete the vaccination programme to the extent that life can go back to normal.

Reducing loneliness
Living Letters is a project that connects people and develops intergenerational friendships to help prevent loneliness during the coronavirus pandemic. The Chickenshed charity has volunteers aged from 18-21 who want to connect with senior members of communities. If you have care homes or group settings that may benefit from this scheme to help prevent lockdown loneliness.

Funding highlights
• Learning Together – National Academy for Social Prescribing funding is designed for voluntary organisations, community and faith groups and social enterprises in England, supporting communities through COVID19.
• The Local Connections Fund is for community groups to tackle loneliness i.e. book clubs, walking groups and other community projects, designed to help reduce loneliness in the coming months.
• Sport England Return to Play Fund has three parts which focus on supporting a safe return to play.
Up to date information on all funding opportunities is listed in the Herefordshire Council funding update.

Restrictions on gatherings – Mixed households can only sit down together in a group of 6 in outdoor settings. As this is taking place inside the hall, mixed households are prohibited. Only those from the same household can sit together in indoor settings and they still must be 2m apart where possible. There are exceptions to restrictions on gatherings.

Use this link for Generation of QR codes for track and trace when needed for a community event

And finally – some seasonal guidance on Carol singing Door-to-door carol singing can take place in a group(s) of no more than six participants. If there are more than six people in total, each ‘group’ must not interact, ‘mingle’ or otherwise socialise. Participants should adhere to public health advice, including to ensure that you maintain at least 2m distance from anyone you do not live with and the threshold of any dwellings. Attendees should walk or cycle to the event and avoid public transport or sharing a car with anyone outside their household in line with safer travel advice. This performing arts guidance covers risk assessments.
Many local communities are getting involved in the BBC radio Hereford and Worcester singalong Doorstep carols

Please note that guidance continues to change, so it is best to check on www.gov.uk regularly.”

Herefordshire Council is encouraging residents and businesses to have their say on the future of rubbish and recycling collection services in the county.

The council’s current rubbish and recycling collection contract is due to end in 2023. Since the current service was introduced the government has announced a new national resource and waste strategy and the council will have to make changes to collections to ensure it meets new requirements.

Making sure that as much as possible is recycled will be an important element of future plans, in line with the ambition for a more sustainable county outlined in the County Plan.

Find out more and to complete the survey at: melresearch.co.uk/herefordshirewastesurvey

People without internet access can call FREEPHONE 0800 0730 348 (Mon – Fri, 9am-5pm) to complete the survey over the phone or request a postal survey. The phone line is being managed by M·E·L Research who are managing the consultation process on behalf of Herefordshire Council.

The survey will close on Sunday 7 February 2021.

Posted 8 December 2020
Good evening/Good day to you all,
Most of you over this year will have been in a position whereby you have had to adapt your working practices to adhere to Covid guidelines and restrictions. The police service has also had to adjust to this the new normal. You will be pleased to note that our criminal side is pretty much the same as it has always been, we are still making arrests! however the new normal has impacted quite hard on our safer neighbourhood team roles. Previously we would have attended police surgeries or gatherings such as parish council meetings/schools/social groups as a personal engagement, but obviously due to the lockdown and tier restrictions over the year, these have all been suspended. We appreciate in some cases we are still connecting to some areas through zoom meetings etc, but this is not practicable for all our areas of business.

This is the reason we write to you today as although we can’t meet face to face, we don’t want to lose our connections with our community members. Working together for our communities is one of the most important aspects of our job, not only to support, but to help problem solve when issues arise.

To ensure we keep connected, we will be looking to produce a small article from ourselves once a fortnight, just with an update of any relevant information that has come to light in those two weeks. Due to GPDR, we need your agreement that you are happy to receive this article via email and that you are happy for us to hold your details.

If you could reply with a quick yes or no, we can then finalise the contact link. If you know of someone who you think should receive the article but hasn’t received this email, please feel free to pass it onto them and they can reply accordingly. We will look to send the first article out next week.

We look forward to hearing from you soon

Kind regards
Steph, on behalf of Leominster Safer Neighbourhood Team.

Pcso Steph Harper 6440
Leominster Police Station
Enterprise Way
Leominster
HR6 0LZ
101 ext 7723019
07773043483
leominster.snt@westmercia.pnn.police.uk

Draft Minutes for 25 November 2020 are now available on the website.

Stakeholder Briefing 18 November 2020

Delivering the NHS Covid-19 vaccination  Summary    As you may be aware, the Government has asked the NHS to be ready to deliver a vaccination programme for England from December, so that those who need it most will be able to access vaccinations as soon as they are available.    Detailed planning has been underway, building on the expertise and strong track record the NHS already has in delivering immunisations like the annual flu vaccination programme and routine immunisations for children and pregnant women. These plans are primarily led by local GPs and community pharmacies, however for the Covid-19 vaccine we will also work with local councils and social care providers to expand on this, as well as set up roving vaccine delivery services in people’s homes or care homes.   When eligibility is extended to wider groups, given the current requirements for social distancing and the number of people covered, this will be supplemented by specific ‘mass’ Covid-19 vaccination sites, which could be within existing NHS estates or at temporary standalone venues.   What vaccine will be available?    While there are a number of different candidate vaccines being developed, we don’t yet know which will be approved for use by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), or when this might happen for each.     As clinical trials progress and we understand more about the requirements of different vaccines – such as storage, transportation and how it is administered – we will continue to refine our plans to ensure we have the right resources in place, including skilled staff, to deliver the vaccine.   Who will get the vaccine?    The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation(JCVI) have recently published updated advice on the priority groups to receive Covid-19 vaccine, advising that vaccines should first be given to care home residents and staff, followed by people aged over 80 and health and social workers, before being rolled out to the rest of the population in order of age and risk.     The JCVI will continue to update this advice as more information becomes available on vaccine effectiveness, safety and clinical characteristics. This will in turn be reflected in our plans.    How will vaccine services be staffed?    Vaccinating hundreds of thousands of people as quickly as possible across Herefordshire and Worcestershire will require lots of staff so we will be in touch to ask for your support. We are already working with local and national partners on a campaign to initially recruit as many trained and experienced vaccinators as possible. Experienced vaccinators working for our local trusts and other employers will also be among the first asked to help deliver the vaccine.   More vaccinators will be needed in the longer term which is why the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) recently consulted on temporary changes to legislation allowing a wider group of clinical staff, including physiotherapists and paramedics, to become vaccinators. Public Health England (PHE) and Health Education England will be developing training courses, including supervision from experienced staff, in order to upskill those groups.     We are also looking at recruiting from the pool of former staff who signed up to help the NHS during the first wave, bank staff and third sector partners, led by St John Ambulance, who will also help recruit the important non-clinical support roles we will need to ensure clinics run safely and smoothly.      When will the vaccine be available?   We do not have any confirmation about the timelines of the vaccination at this stage, but as you would expect we are working with partners across Herefordshire and Worcestershire to ensure that once a vaccine is ready, we can get it to those most vulnerable as quickly and safely as possible.   Whilst the news of vaccine progress is great, it is important to remember that a vaccine is not an overnight fix and we could still be several months away from any large-scale vaccination numbers and reduction in community transmissions. We know that an infection in the community today could lead to a hospital admission in two weeks’ time and that every bed taken to care for someone with Covid-19 means one less bed to care for and treat other people who may be in need.   So as infection rates in our area continue to be very high, we will continue to work with Public Health colleagues and local partners who are doing everything they can to prevent outbreaks and stop the virus from spreading.   For now, the most important thing we can all do to impact on this virus and its devastating effect on people and communities, is to follow the current advice.   In the meantime please contact hw.engage@nhs.net if you have any questions.   Simon Trickett Accountable Officer Herefordshire and Worcestershire CCG and STP

Draft Minutes for 28 October 2020 are now available on the website.

The Agenda for the meeting on Wednesday 28 October 2020 is now online.
The Press and Public are welcome to attend the meeting via Zoom. Please contact the Clerk, Maggie Brown, for further details.