Wiltshire’s Bobby Van Trust will be live on BBC1’s ‘Crimewatch Live’ next Tuesday morning (19 March) at (approx?) 09.30am. The time is ‘approx’ – it’s ‘Live’ telly.
The Bobby Van Chief Executive, Jennie Shaw and Home Security Operator Mick Leighfield will be in the studios to tell presenters Michelle Ackerley and Ray Wilding how its two vans, both staffed by former police officers, visit homes across Wiltshire and Swindon to offer free practical home security measures, fire safety assessments and online safety guidance for people over 60 or over 18 with a registered disability.
“Our aim is simply to make sure our clients are as safe as they can be at home, for many, their one and only safe space,” Jennie will tell the programme as she describes the charity as “Wiltshire and Swindon’s best-kept secret”.
Mick, who has been with the charity for 17 years, will explain some of the help he and his colleague Doug Batchelor give to people who have either been victims of burglaries or domestic abuse, or are thought to be at risk, as well as passing on some useful crime prevention advice.
The charity works in partnership with Wiltshire Police and other organisations including Victim Support, Age UK, housing associations and Wiltshire Council’s trading standards department to identify people who need help and reassurance.
Mrs Shaw will also talk about the increasing need of the charity’s Stay Safe Online service, which has nine volunteers visiting people who have been victims of online scams to improve their cyber security awareness, give prevention advice and provide support and reassurance.
The charity’s new dementia wristbands, offered in association with Wiltshire Police, will also get a mention. Mrs Shaw will be telling how the bands contain a chip that can be scanned by a smart phone to reveal the wearer’s next of kin and contact details.
The charity, formed in 1998 and based at Wiltshire Police Headquarters in Devizes, has Lady Lansdowne, Annette Mason, the wife of Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason and Wiltshire Chief Constable Catherine Roper among its trustees.
Robert Hiscox, well known to many here in Marlborough as philanthropist, inspiration behind the creation of The Parade Cinema and the White Horse Bookshop is also Chairman of the Bobby Van Trust, a role that he has fulfilled for the past twenty two years, and several prior to that as trustee.
The effect of the Bobby Van Trust goes just a bit beyond the actual advice and work that they do for those who need that help. One of marlborough.news regular viewers cites the time that his (then very) elderly mother suffered a burglary to her house. That was extremely traumatic, but the Bobby Van came along, their operators fitted appropriate and useful security so that it would be extremely difficult for another burglar to break in, but what really helped was their prompt presence, advice and their reassurance. That psychological support they provided was invaluable, something way beyond the fitting of devices, it was exactly what she needed. Even better, the Police investigated and caught the burglar who received a prison sentence. That is the Bobby Van – and Wiltshire Police – in action.
So, Tuesday morning (19 March) at (maybe) 09.30, but possibly before to see Mick and Jennie tell all about what the Bobby Van can and does offer to those in need across the Wiltshire Police Force area.
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