Category Archives: Advice

Churches reopening

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From the URC:

We are delighted to announce that on Sunday 5th July at 11.00am we will be holding a Reopening Morning Service at Ickenham United Reformed Church after 15 weeks in lockdown.
Led by Peter Williams the theme is ‘This is none other than the House of God’.
The Church has been specially prepared following the Government and the United Reformed Church safety guidelines and there will be no singing.
We hope that you will be able to come.

 

From St. Giles

The church is now open for private prayer at the following times:
Tuesday evenings 7pm-8pm & Friday mornings 10am-11am

Reopening for Worship – we are planning to hold a Book of Common Prayer Service in church on Sunday 12 July. Please watch this space for further details next week and note that, due to social distancing requirements, space in church will be limited and booking in will be required via the church office.

www.stgileschurch.co.uk/

HS2 works including road closures

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From HS2

Harvil Road daytime lane closures, weekdays 13 July to 7 August
We are starting to work on the building of a new section of Harvil Road, with a new road bridge over the Chiltern railway line. We will erect hoarding along the east side of Harvil Road. To build this hoarding our operatives will need to work in the road and, for the safety of the staff, we will need to close the southbound lane. To keep the closure as small as possible we will only close the lane where works are happening. These works will take place between 13th July and 7th August, between 8am and 6pm, Monday to Friday. You will still be able to travel through the area but may be asked to wait for a short time

Night time work at HS2 site in South Ruislip 13 July to 17 August

Night time work at HS2 site in South Ruislip 13 July to 17 August
We are starting work in the site compound on Network Rail land behind the old ARLA dairy site. It will consist of excavating and compacting earth into a small section of land to create a platform for hoarding to be installed. The work will take place at night time from 13 July to 17 August, Monday to Sunday 6pm to 8am, although the work will not be continuous.

Various road works – LBH and HS2

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A bit late with these: my apologies.
From LBH
As part of this year’s planned carriageway resurfacing programme, work is due to be carried out on Swakeleys Road from the week commencing 29 June 2020.
We will place advance Notices on the streets giving the actual start date.
The hours of working will be 8.00 pm to 5.00 am, (Monday to Saturday).
The start date and duration period may be subject to change due to prevailing weather conditions or unforeseen issues.
 
And, from HS2
Works Notice:
Wednesday 1 July 2020 between 8am – 5pm the southbound lane of Breakspear Road South will be closed. Traffic will flow in both directions controlled by temporary traffic lights. We need to undertake vegetation clearance works to enable a footpath diversion adjacent to Breakspear Road South
 
What are we doing
We need to undertake vegetation clearance works to enable a footpath diversion adjacent to Breakspear Road South. on Wednesday 1 July 2020. We are sorry for the shorter than usual notice period for these works.
 
Temporary traffic lights
We will require a single lane closure of the southbound lane on Breakspear Road South to safely undertake the vegetation clearance works on the southern side of the Chiltern line bridge, for 1 day.
A set of temporary 3-way traffic lights will be in place allowing traffic to flow safely during the lane closure.
To minimise the impact to road users of another lane closure, we have collaborated with Skanska Costain Strabag (SCS) who will also be undertaking work adjacent to Oak Farm, during our lane closure.
Works Update: Ruislip Golf Course Hoarding works rescheduled to 28 June until 14 August
We previously wrote to you in May regarding the installation of wooden hoarding between Ruislip Golf Course and the Chiltern railway lines.
This is to ensure that the work site is both safe and secure. These works were postponed form earlier in June.
Preparatory works will take place during the day and then work on Network Rail land will take place during the night as this is the only time that the Chiltern line has no trains running. This night-time activity will only be the erecting of a solid timber hoarding along the entire length of the site. The placement of the hoarding is shown on the map overleaf.
All lights needed for work activity will be placed so that they face back toward the work compound and away from the residential properties.
The side of the hoarding facing the properties in The Greenway and Hoylake Crescent will then be painted a dark blue. This colour has been agreed with Network Rail who need to ensure that the red, amber, and green lights are visible to their driver’s sight lines.
There will be a period where we will remove the part of the cutting. This will be behind our new hoarding line and will be done during the day.
These works have been moved to a start date of 28 June and will last until 14 August at the latest.
Day time activity will happen between 8am and 6pm.
Night time activity will happen between 12.30am and 5.30am, except for Sunday when they will finish at 7.45am.
We may be on site for up to an hour before/after these hours to allow for preparation.
 
What to expect
Placement of the posts will require an excavator to excavate the hoarding post foundations. All other activity will be using hand tools to minimise disturbance

David Fenton

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David Fenton

It is with much regret and my sad duty to inform members of the Association that David Fenton passed away on the 2nd of June, in the Care home where he was residing in Denham.

I understand he succumbed to “a long standing, underlying infection”, (not Covid related) and, no doubt, his recent loss only last December, of Fay, his wife, will not have helped.

David had served in various capacities on the Committee, during his service from 1998 to 2013.

He served as a Committee Member; Road Steward; Area Steward; and from 1999 to 2011, as Treasurer of the Association. He eventually left the committee in 2013 due to “hearing problems”.

In addition to the above, he worked tirelessly monitoring the Cala Development on the Ex USN base, with frequent meetings with the developer to mitigate noise and nuisance emanating from the site during its construction.

His wife Fay was always in attendance with him at Association events helping out with the refreshments – an important element of any Association’s functioning.

David will be sadly missed by those who served with him in the Association, and personally by myself and Vanetta, who had become close friends of them both.

Pete Daymond. President.

COVID-19 scams

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from NHW

The Government Test and Trace service is extremely important in the fight against Coronavirus, and of course it’s vital that the public get on board with it.

Unfortunately, criminals will use the existence of this service to exploit every opportunity they can to defraud innocent people of their money, or steal their personal details, and will now seek to use Test and Trace as a vehicle to execute scams on the unwary.

The Metropolitan Police Cyber Crime Unit have therefore issued an advice sheet: NHS test and trace Scams – how to stay safe 

NOTE:  If you have an elderly neighbour who is not online, then remember that scammers can use telephone methods with great ease on the elderly where health is concerned – so please take the time to print a copy of this single sheet to give to your neighbour.

Road works Ickenham Road

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We have been informed of Major works to supply HV power lines to the HS2 site stationed in Ruislip Golf Course. Works will commence 4th June 2020 for approx 12 weeks along Ickenham Road between Ruislip Golf Club and High Street Ruislip.

Given the traffic sensitivity of Ickenham road and traffic management required to accommodate these works, it is expected that these works will cause considerable disruption to Hillingdons road network.

In light of the above, these types of work would normally have been negotiated to be normally done during the school summer holidays however, given the extent (900meters), estimated duration and traffic management involved, it was deemed better to commence these works prior to the school summer holidays when traffic is still considerably less given the current climate surrounding Covid – 19, rather than waiting until School summer holidays when works would have extended well into September when the likelihood of local businesses and work streams resume back to normal.

Works will be done in two phases:

Phase one: Ickenham Road between Sharps Lane roundabout to High Street Ruislip.

Traffic management involved to accommodate these works will involve an eastbound closure of Ickenham road between Sharps Lane roundabout and High Street Ruislip, A hard closure of Sharps Lane at its junction with Ickenham Road along with 4 way temp lights at its roundabout of Wood Lane, Kingsend, & Ickenham Road.

Full diversions are in place to accommodate both closures.

Phase two – Ickenham Road between Sharps Lane and the entrance to Ruislip Golf course.

Traffic management will involve 2/3 way temp traffic lights.

Given the nature and sensitivity of Ickenham road  these works will be monitored daily. HS2/UKPN have also  been  instructed to work seven days a week to expedite progress.

Travel pass restrictions from June 15

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From TfL

From Monday 15 June, customers with a 60+ London Oyster photocard, Older Person’s Freedom Pass or English National Concessionary Scheme pass will not be able to use their card between 04:30 and 09:00 Monday to Friday. This is to enable social distancing on the public transport network and help control the spread of coronavirus.  If you have no option other than to use public transport during the morning peak, we recommend that you travel using pay as you go with a contactless card or device or an Oyster card. For more information, please visit www.tfl.gov.uk/fares.

Customers with a Disabled Freedom Pass are unaffected and will, as usual, still be able to travel at all times using their Pass.

We know that being able to plan your journey is especially important to you. If you do need to travel, it may be helpful to know that we have staff at all Tube, TfL Rail and London Overground stations, and they are here to help should you need advice, information and assistance.

We operate a Turn-up-and-go service  on the London Underground, London Overground and most of TfL Rail. This means you do not have to pre-book assistance to get help at our stations. Everyone is welcome to use the service. Click here for more information.

To ensure safer journeys for everyone, we are continuing to take measures across our network to enable social distancing of 2 metres, where possible. This means:
•    If a visually impaired person requests customer assistance, underground staff will arrange a special taxi to take them to their destination station
•    We will maintain a two-metre distance when supporting customers with a mobility impairment (for example, by providing manual boarding ramps)
•    In situations where face coverings make communication difficult, our staff will use written messages on paper, whiteboards or mobile devices

When there are queues outside the station, customers who identify themselves as disabled are allowed to enter the station without queuing.

Most of our stations are only accepting contactless or Oyster to pay for travel. Some stations are still accepting cash. Click here to find out which stations are still accepting cash

Please continue to avoid public transport, where possible, to free up the limited space available to those who have no alternative way to travel.

We thank you again for all your help as we work together to keep everyone safe.

Some topical scams: watch out!

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SCAMS: WHAT TO BE AWARE OF
Buckinghamshire Councils Trading Standards office and Thames Valley Police have made us aware of several scams and areas of concern. Here are just a few things for us all to be aware of and share with our volunteers and clients:
• Offers of Coronavirus ‘home testing kits’ > there are no such tests available
• Claims that the Council needs to enter your home to do a ‘deep clean’ > simply not true
• Offers of refunds on taxes etc re COVID-19 are just a scam to get your bank details
• Offers of investment opportunities to take advantage of the COVID-19 financial downturn
• Fake products offering protection against COVID-19 > the best protection is to STAY AT HOME
• Mobile phone apps claiming to give updates on the virus > they block your phone and then demand a payment to release it
• Beware of people offering to do your shopping and taking money then not returning
• Do not give cash, bank details or PIN numbers to anyone you do not know
• Banks and the Police will NEVER ask for your account details over the phone
• Be sceptical > if you are unsure about a new contact by phone, email or at the door just hang up, delete, or shut the door.
If you have real concerns call the police on 101 (999 in emergencies only) or speak to Trading Standards on 01296 388788.
From Money Saving Expert
At last… somewhere you can forward scam emails. A reminder from last week. Send them to report@phishing.gov.uk, and the National Cyber Security Centre (part of GCHQ) analyses them and
can remove the culprit sites. Pls spread the word.From Thames Valley Police- Nottinghamshire Knockers
Please warn your neighbours, particularly elderly or vulnerable neighbours, not to open the door to strangers to buy on the doorstep. Some doorstep callers may offer poor quality goods at inflated prices and if a caller is not genuine, they may be gathering information for future crime. Please keep in mind that if cold callers do not get any sales in your area, they are less likely to return.
How they work
The sellers may say that they are on a “rehabilitation course” arranged by probation services or other organisations trying to find people work. This is not the case and often they are known criminals. Probation services do not run such schemes.
They may show a card which claims to be a “Pedlars Licence” or work permit. This is not valid, and they are breaking the law if they are using anything like this.
They may also hand over a card saying they are deaf or dumb.
According to the police, the bag of household products is supplied by someone who employs them (originally a man from Nottingham – hence the name), but now they are recruited from anywhere.
The lads are supplied with a full bag of household products (including the typical tea-towels!) and charged a minimal sum for the contents– it used to be £35. They can keep whatever they make, above this amount.
Usually they are deposited in an area from a transit van and given a list of streets to work. An hour or so later they are picked up and dropped off in another location. They often work from 9am to 9pm.
They will knock on a door, offering cleaning items which they know are cheap and of extremely poor quality; the householder also knows they are rubbish but that is part of the scam. Many people will purchase items and pay them something, just to get rid of them. There have been cases of elderly
residents handing over large sums as these lads can be very persistent and confrontational.
The price for whatever has been purchased usually comes to a note – usually £10. The householder disappears to get this – this is when the scam begins, according to the police. When the note is handed over, the lad examines the condition and how long it took the person to get it. If it is crumpled, they accept it and move on. If it is crisp flat and new – they are much more interested and may engage the person in more conversation, to obtain details about them. As they leave, they will smell the note. If it is slightly musty – this is an indication that there is more in the property. Those addresses are noted. The addresses of elderly/vulnerable/gullible people are all noted.
These are handed to the employer and there is a small amount of cash handed over for each one.
These addresses are then sold on. If there is a later break-in, the employer expects a further cut of the proceeds. These lists are purchased by all sorts of people including – tarmacers, tree workers, roofers, dodgy builders etc., and can be shared quite easily. Once on a list, your address could be
sold on and on. Hence the repeat nature of these persistent callers.
If they are in your area, please call the police immediately on 101 with a description of them & any associated vehicle they may be using.
Stay Alert and Stay Safe!