Home-Start Chichester & District provides practical and emotional support to families throughout the district to families with young children. We are urgently in need of more volunteers in the north of the district, where families struggle particularly with issues to do with loneliness and isolation. Volunteers are trained to provide skilled support in families’ own homes in a way that empowers the parents and improves their relationships with their children. Lois Rowlands, our manager, is more than happy to chat through the work of Home-Start if you would like to find out more.
Update software and apps when prompted, including operating systems. These often contain security updates.
· Download security apps on all your mobile devices, including Apple devices.
· Always protect your mobile devices with a PIN or password, even if they come with biometric protection.
· Review your device settings regularly to ensure your privacy is protected.
· Set your devices to back up automatically to protect confidential or irreplaceable files or other information from loss.
· Wi-Fi hotspots should be avoided for confidential communications or transactions, as there’s no guarantee that they’re secured. Use a VPN or instead, use your data or wait until you get back to your secure Wi-Fi.
· Think before you click: clicking on email attachments or links in emails and social media posts could infect your devices with various types of malware, including ransomware and spyware.
· Giving a caller remote access to your devices could result in malware or fraud. Grant access only to an authorised support person who you have contacted with a problem.
· Keep mobile devices secure in the home and office. The information on them is normally worth a lot more to a criminal than selling on the device itself.
· Never leave mobile devices unattended, including in a café, the gym or your vehicle.
· Keep your device protected when out and about in crowded areas. Mobiles make attractive targets for pickpockets and ride-by thieves.
Top Tips For Using Apps
Avoid downloading fake apps by using only the official store for your device’s operating system. Even then, read reviews and choose with care, as some rogue apps sometimes make their way into app stores.
· Read terms and conditions when downloading apps to understand aspects like data sharing and in-app payments.
· Consider the permissions you grant for apps to access your location, photos, camera, contacts or other functions or data.
· Check app settings to determine whether downloading updates and day-to-day data are enabled automatically. If they are, it could make it easier for your data to be intercepted, and may use up your data allowance.
· Observe apps’ minimum age ratings, which may vary from store to store. This is important for apps which may be accessed by children.
· Log out of apps – particularly those for banking, shopping or payments – when you’ve finished using them. This also goes for location-based apps, when you want to protect your whereabouts.
· Always download app updates when prompted. As well as providing new features and better functionality, updates usually contain security fixes.
· Be aware of the data used by apps when you’re out and about, including roaming charges abroad. And remember that some apps enable in-app purchases, which can be very attractive to use – especially to children – but at a price.
· Remove apps you haven’t used for a while, apart from security apps. If you’re disposing of your device by any means, erase all data and apps, also preferably doing a factory re-set.
St. Mary’s Church has arranged for a fund raising Summer concert on Saturday 25th June at 3pm. First one since 2019 and Covid Lockdown. So it is good to be back. This year it is a Jazz concert to raise funds towards upkeep care and maintenance of the Grade 1 Listed Bepton Parish Church.
Please be aware that North Street will be closed from 8pm to 6am between Dodsley Lane and Rothermere Car Park between the 4th and 10th of July 2022 for carriageway resurfacing.
#WestSussBus – finding out your views on the buses
We’ve just launched #WestSussBus – a long-term engagement project – to collect views, suggestions and ideas about local bus services. It’s on the West Sussex County Council (WSCC) engagement hub and here is the address: https://yourvoice.westsussex.gov.uk/westsussbus
The project has it’s own email address, too westsussbus@westsussex.gov.uk and the title #WestSussBus can be used as a hashtag for social media postings about local buses.
Please find attached information for circulation in your area. There’s a downloadable poster and two versions of an e-flyer.
As it’s a long-term project, there’s no end date, and it’s likely to be running for at least a year.
If you have any questions, please get in touch.
Many thanks,
Jess Meagher
Stakeholder and Partnerships Officer, S&P Team
Local Highways Operations, Highways, Transport and Planning
West Sussex County Council, County Hall, Chichester
‘WHAT DOES SMART SECURITY MEAN FOR MY HOME?’ FREE WEBINAR Join this virtual chat with a smart security expert from ERA, plus Q&A Thursday 10th March, 5 – 6pm
Find out what smart security means for your home and how simple changes can vastly improve its security. During the webinar Neighbourhood Watch CEO, John Hayward-Cripps, and ERA’s smart security expert, Sumier Foster-Shah, will discuss:
available smart security solutions
installation
what to look for when choosing a smart security system
and much more
Following the discussion, they will run a live Q&A session to answer all of your questions and concerns.
To help you be and feel safer at home, we are running through March our Think WIDE(N) burglary prevention campaign. At Neighbourhood Watch, we also believe neighbours keeping an eye out for each other is key to reducing burglary, so we’ve extended the WIDE acronym to WIDE(N)
W: WINDOWS: Keep your windows locked
I: INTERIOR: Put inside lights on a timer/smart bulb
D: DOORS: Double or deadlock your doors
E: EXTERIOR: Put outside lights on a sensor
(N): NEIGHBOURS: Keep an eye out for your neighbours
Bepton, West Sussex 