We are really sorry and sad that there will be no hard copies of the magazine for February.Our regular printer, ‘TeamPrint’, has been closed since April 2020 because of Covid-19. Printing the magazine ourselves has become very costly even though we were printing fewer copies.
As soon as ‘TeamPrint’ are up and running again, we will be back in business.Meanwhile there will continue to be monthly editions of the magazine available online on the Benefice website.
We don’t yet know what will happen for March’s edition but will keep you informed.
When we do eventually start to print the magazine again everyone should receive a hard copy as in previous years.
For further information please contact me on 01530 230422. Thank you.
Leicestershire police are issuing a warning following a number of elderly people being duped out of large sums of money after being contacted by bogus police officers.
Since 10 December last year, they have received 17 reports of courier fraud. Seven of those victims suffered losses of more than £135,000.
During the incidents the victims have received a call from someone claiming to be a police officer who’s investigating counterfeit currency or fraudulent use of the victim’s bank card.
One such recent report was received from an Oadby woman in her 80s who was initially contacted in December last year by someone claiming he was a police officer from London who was investigating counterfeit currency.
Over a period of time the suspect gained the victim’s trust and subsequently told the victim to withdraw a large sum of money and purchase gold so they can check the money isn’t counterfeit.
A courier was then sent to the victim’s home address to collect the gold. The victim lost more than £30,000.
In another incident a Knighton man in his 80s was contacted over a period of two weeks in December by someone claiming he was a police officer from London, he said he was investigating fraudulent transactions on the victim’s wife’s bank card.
The suspect claimed the bank card was used in a department store to purchase two high value watches. He was told to withdraw a large sum of money from his bank and purchase some gold bars from a local jewellers. Gold bars to the value of £40,000 were purchased and subsequently picked up by a courier.
Paul Wenlock from the economic crime unit, said: “We are growing increasingly concerned about these types of offences. Suspects are gaining the victim’s trust over a period of a few weeks and ensuring they don’t speak to anyone about the calls. They sound genuine and victims feel they have no choice but to do as they are told.
“These types of offences are borderless crimes, those responsible target victims not necessarily in their own area but across the country. Leics police work closely with forces across the country to ensure any intelligence identified during investigations is shared.
“A number of warnings have been issued about these crimes but they know not everyone accesses social media or the internet, so they are asking the public to help us by informing their neighbours or relatives about these offences.
“They should be advised that police officers would never contact them in this way. If they are called they should disconnect the call straightaway and report the incident to the police using another telephone, as on some occasions calls can remain connected.
“On some occasions suspects will use local taxi or courier companies, who unknowingly accept the job. They ask that people remain vigilant and if they are contacted to collect packages be mindful of who they are collecting these from if they have any suspicions to report them to the police immediately.”
Please share this advice with friends, family and neighbours. Further advice about these offences can be found on https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/a-z-of-fraud/courier-fraud
Message Sent By Corporate Communications (Communications, Public Engagement, Force HQ)
Some of our more senior residents have asked if it would be possible to create a list of local tradespeople.
It can be quite daunting to find reliable, trustworthy people to carry out work, especially in these very uncertain times.
They were asking if we could organise a ‘go to’ list that could include plumbers, electricians, decorators, builders, architects, gardeners, IT experts, dressmakers, cleaners, artists, taxis, chimney sweeps, podiatrists, beauticians, hairdressers and much more, but keep it ‘in house’ using the services (where possible) of other residents in Thornton and Merrylees.
It was agreed that the ideal platform to advertise and list such services locally is on the existing Thornton village website. www.thorntonvillage.org
If you would like to advertise your business, whether you are part of a company or a sole trader and live in Thornton or Merrylees; then please contact me and I will enter your details on a new page to be created on the website. Email: – thorntonvillage@aol.com
By return email I will ask you to complete a short proforma, listing your contact details, services offered and any professional qualifications etc.
There is no charge for advertising, the website is not for commercial gain, but was set up purely for the benefit of the residents. (However, we may make a very small charge or ask for donations in the future to help pay for the annual costs of website hosting and domain name renewal).
If you know of anyone who has their own business who may be interested, and is not on Nextdoor or Facebook then please let them know.
Following on from this we are looking into creating a Good Neighbours scheme – similar to the one in Desford – www.desfordgns.org.uk
If we feel this is a possibility more information and a request for volunteers will be published at a later date.
For those Nextdoor members residing in Thornton – don’t forget to join the separate ‘Thornton Community’ group on Nextdoor.
Hinckley and Bosworth Community Transport have been given some funding from the HBBC/VCS partnership to provide community transportation to residents of Hinckley & Bosworth. This transport will be free for those who do not have any way of getting to the centre safely themselves.
See poster attached.
Please pass on this information to anyone whom you think would benefit from this service. We want to ensure that everyone can get to have their vaccines as soon as possible.
There are volunteer drivers available to help provide this service and if we can get 6 people at similar times going for vaccines we can use our 16 seater minibus which we can take people safely distanced and meeting Covid guidelines for safety.
Lindsey Short (Hinckley & Bosworth Community Transport)
A total of £365,000 has been made available to the three local NHS charities: Leicester Hospitals Charity, Raising Health (Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust) and East Midlands Ambulance Service, via NHS Charities Together.
It has been agreed that this funding will be used to award grants of £73,000 each to five local community groups/charities, operating in Leicester, Leicestershire or Rutland, over a period of two years.
The grants will be awarded to organisations based in LLR for innovative projects, to be delivered from April 2021 to March 2023, which meet the following objectives:
Support and maintain positive health and wellbeing within our communities.
Show innovative ways to maintain positive health and wellbeing in the community
Improve health literacy
Support the most vulnerable people in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland to remain safe and well
Reduces demand on local NHS clinical/healthcare services
The funding will be split into 5 themes/cohorts, with £73,000 allocated to each theme as follows:
Older Vulnerable People
Young People’s Mental Health
Adult Mental Health (including reducing loneliness)
Disabilities/learning disabilities
Supporting vulnerable people from BAME communities
LLR based voluntary and community sector organisations, charities and social enterprises who have ideas for new projects which improve health outcomes are invited to submit an Expression of Interest.
The deadline for submissions is 5.00pm on Friday 29th January 2021.
For further information or enquiries, please email: lhcharity@uhl-tr.nhs.uk, or go to the Leicester Hospitals Charity website.
Please feel free to share and circulate this message more widely to interested parties.
Strategic environmental assessment screening determination – October 2020
The purpose of a screening statement is to set out a screening opinion in relation to whether a strategic environmental assessment (SEA) is required to accompany the development of a neighbourhood plan. The screening statement is also consulted, and three statutory consultation bodies are to give their opinion on whether a SEA is required.
The Borough Council has issued a SEA screening report and determination in relation to the draft Bagworth, Thornton and Stanton Under Bardon Neighbourhood Plan. The screening determination is that a strategic environmental assessment and habitat regulations assessment of the Bagworth, Thornton and Stanton Under Bardon Neighbourhood Plan is not required due to there being no adverse comments from the statutory consultation bodies and for the reasons set out in the Bagworth, Thornton and Stanton Under Bardon strategic environmental assessment screening statement.
In June 2017, the parishes of Bagworth, Thornton and Stanton Under Bardon submitted an application to designate a joint neighbourhood area in order to prepare a neighbourhood development plan to cover both parishes. The public consultation ran for six weeks, between Friday 4 August 2017 and Friday 15 September 2017, on whether this was an appropriate area to designate for the purpose of undertaking a neighbourhood development plan.
Following the consultation, the Borough Council formally designated the Bagworth, Thornton and Stanton Under Bardon Neighbourhood Area for the purpose of producing a neighbourhood development plan.
Thornton 