While trying to find a decent pic of Ickenham Village Hall for our Twitter account and the header of this site, I found myself in contact with the Swakeleys Home Guard (1944) Association. Its members meet at the back of the Village Hall. I’ve added them to the Useful Links page, along with a lively Facebook group we mentioned recently called ‘Ickenham… it’s just the best village’.
Category Archives: Advice
Breakspear Road South closure
This has just come in from Hillingdon Neighbourhood Watch:
Breakspear Road South will be closed from Breakspear Road to the junction with Swakeleys Road for six weeks from 20th July until 4th September for major GAS work.
This will obviously have a major impact on traffic flow in the area.
[ And something that HS2 could learn much from – Ed ]
HS2 threat to our heritage
As you know, part of the Colne Valley is in the western reaches of Ickenham. The proposed HS2 works will bisect the valley and cause considerable environmental harm. The following documents tell you all you need to know about a planned action day on July 17th:
Beware of university grant emails
Hillingdon Neighbourhood Watch is warning of fake emails that appear to come from your chosen university which offer you a grant from the Department of Education. Don’t click on anything: full explanation here:
http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/news/phishing-attack-targeting-university-students-may16
Hillingdon Neighbourhood Watch
Hillingdon Neighbourhood Watch provides an excellent place to catch up on crime news and advice. It provides useful links to resources, including prevention products and services, including the occasional special pricing (or free) offers. We’ve just added it to the Useful Links section of this website.
Pinn depth monitor at Swakeleys Road
If you are concerned about flood risk or the chance of being washed downstream, this GaugeMap link shows the state of the River Pinn. Here’s a snapshot:
You can alter the frequency and tweak other graph options. In the snapshot, the upper black line is the highest ever recorded (October 30th 2000) and the second line is the more recent highest (February 7th 2014). The lower black line is the lowest ever recorded (August 9th 2007).
Are you missing ‘Hillingdon People’?
Adam James, the LBH Community Involvement Consultation Advisor, tells us that the May/June edition of Hillingdon People magazine is now out.
If you’ve not received your copy, fill in the missed delivery form at http://www.hillingdon.gov.uk/hillingdonpeople or phone the council’s contact centre on 01895 556000. The gap in your life will be filled.
Family Fun Day
Just found this in my inbox:
Queen’s birthday – road closures
The 12th June will see (some) Ickenham residents out in force to celebrate Her Majesty’s birthday with street parties. Please avoid these areas at these times (unless you’ve been invited):
| Road | From | To | Which bit? |
| Ivy House Rd. | 11:00 | 21:00 | 9 to 59 |
| Austins Lane | 14:00 | 19:00 | Church Place to junction with St Giles Ave. |
| Rectory Way | 11:00 | 20:00 | 16/26 to dead end |
| Almond Ave. | 10:00 | 23:00 | Whole road |
Thank you.
In business? Being threatened by Lizard Squad?
This information below this paragraph is taken straight from a Neighbourhood Watch notice dated April 29. The last section is good advice regardless of the source of attack. Action Fraud is a good source of information on many types of online attack – personal and business. Here goes:
Within the past 24 hours a number of businesses throughout the UK have received extortion demands from a group calling themselves ‘Lizard Squad’.
Method of Attack:
The group have sent emails demanding payment of 5 Bitcoins, to be paid by a certain time and date. The email states that this demand will increase by 5 Bitcoins for each day that it goes unpaid.
If their demand is not met, they have threatened to launch a Denial of Service attack against the businesses’ websites and networks, taking them offline until payment is made.
The demand states that once their actions have started, they cannot be undone.
What to do if you’ve received one of these demands:
- Report it to Action Fraud by calling 0300 123 2040 or by using the online reporting tool
- Do not pay the demand
- Retain the original emails (with headers)
- Maintain a timeline of the attack, recording all times, type and content of the contact
If you are experiencing a DDoS right now you should:
- Report it to Action Fraud by calling 0300 123 2040 immediately.
- Call your Internet Service Provider (ISP) (or hosting provider if you do not host your own Web server), tell them you are under attack and ask for help.
- Keep a timeline of events and save server logs, web logs, email logs, any packet capture, network graphs, reports etc.
Get Safe Online top tips for protecting your business from a DDoS:
- Consider the likelihood and risks to your organisation of a DDoS attack, and put appropriate threat reduction/mitigation measures in place.
- If you consider that protection is necessary, speak to a DDoS prevention specialist.
- Whether you are at risk of a DDoS attack or not, you should have the hosting facilities in place to handle large, unexpected volumes of website hits.
Ickenham Residents' Association 