Archive for category: News & Information

Important Notice for Rail Users

From 1st September 2025, Great Western Railway (GWR) will be introducing parking charges at Honeybourne Station car park.

Parking Tariffs

• £3 all day – if you park before 12 noon
• £2 all day – if you park from noon onwards
• 20 minutes free – for pick-up and drop-off

How to Pay

You can purchase parking tickets:

• Online via APCOA’s app or website
• At the existing ticket vending machine (card or cash accepted)

Background

GWR has advised that these charges are being introduced to help reduce taxpayer subsidies following the pandemic. All revenue from car parking charges will be returned to Government, and the charges will help protect the car park for rail customers.

APCOA will manage the car park on GWR’s behalf and will conduct routine patrols. New parking bay markings and signage will be installed in the coming days.

For questions about these changes, contact Great Western Railway’s customer services.

WHAT ARE YOUR CHILDREN DOING ONLINE THIS SUMMER?

What’s almost certain is that they’ll be going online more than in term time … for entertainment, keeping in contact and chatting with their mates, gaming, and the multitude of other things kids use the Internet for.  

With all the additional time spent doing more online, how can you be sure that the young people in your family are safe from the issues they can encounter every day? 

There are a host of social networking sites available online and many of these sites use live video as a means to communicate or involve sending photos. This leaves the way open for people to send images which may be inappropriate.

 

Check out these easy-to-follow tips to help your child enjoy a safe and confident experience online. 

• Chat regularly with your child about what they do online and get them to show you. Get to know about new technologies and trends. Talk about the potential negatives, like oversharing, seeing inappropriate content, cyberbullying, stranger danger, uncontrolled spending of money and spending too much time online. Set a good example yourself.
• Steer your child towards safe searching, websites and apps. Check what they’re watching and/or sharing on streaming sites like YouTube and TikTok. Encourage them to use child-friendly platforms like YouTube Kids.
• Gaming, social media, picture/video sharing and many other apps and websites have lowerage limits for a reason, so you should make sure your child doesn’t access those for which they’re underage.
• Download apps only from recognised sources like App Store and Google Play. Add your own email address when setting up accounts and apps for your child.
• Discuss and agree boundaries and rules from a young age, including appropriate online usage, always being respectful and how much time they spend online. Empower them, but remember they don’t have the experience or maturity to always make the right decisions.
• Consider setting up parental control software and apps on computers, mobile devices and games consoles, privacy features on social networking sites, safety options on search engines and safe location settings on devices and apps. Turn on your ISP’s family filters.
• Stay familiar with new game and social media trends, especially those attracting negative publicity because they may be violent, encourage gambling or leave the way open for messaging random strangers, enabling hence potential grooming or other types of coercion.
• Forvideo calls, ensure your child’s safety by updating to the platform’s latest version, following its safety advice and checking that call invitations and replies can’t be seen by anybody outside the agreed call group.
• Online gamingis widely recognised as having many developmental benefits for young people but talk to them about potential negatives like chatting to strangers, in-game purchases (like loot boxes, skins and cheats), and overdoing screen time.
• Talk to your child about misinformation, disinformation and fake news.Tell them not to believe or share everything they see or read, especially in these days of sponsored ‘news’ and AI-generated images, videos and text.
• Warn your child about confidential information, personal details and images/videoabout themselves or others they share in posts, profiles, messages and chats. Consider what you share yourself.
• Without being controlling, keep an eye on your child’s online activitiesand know how to recognise the signs of something not being right. For example, criminals have exploited increased online use for recruiting children into illegal activities such as cybercrime and drug muling.

For more information, visit www.getsafeonline.org/personal/article-category/safeguarding-children.

 

Please feel free to share these messages with any vulnerable friends, relatives, or neighbours

Community spirit in action! One of our footpath volunteers took it upon themselves to clear the footpath from Shepherd Walk to High Street on July 5th when our planned June clearing had to be postponed due to the heatwave. Great work keeping our community paths accessible and safe! 🌿👏

DON’T LET CRIMINALS RUIN YOUR HOLIDAY
Fraudsters can operate all around the world. So, it’s important to keep your cards, and card details safe when travelling. International card fraud losses for 2023 were £134.5 million.

BEFORE YOU GO OVERSEAS:
• Only take the cards you intend to use, and leave the others in a secure place at home
• Make sure your card company has your up-to-date contact details.
• Ensure you have your card company’s 24-hour telephone number with you in case you need to contact them.
• If you are registered with a Card Protection Agency, take that contact number and policy number with you.

WHEN YOU ARE OVERSEAS:
• Don’t let your card out of sight, especially at restaurants and bars.
• Don’t give your PIN to anyone, even if they claim to be the police or your card company.
• Shield your PIN when typing it in, and never give your PIN to anyone, even if they claim to be from the Police or Card company
• Check which currency you are being asked to pay in.
• Paying with your Credit Card gives greater protection on any payments made over £100 and less than £30,000
• Check your bank transactions when you can to see if there’s anything unfamiliar.
• Look after all your other belongings like passports, wallets, purses, travel, and ticket information.

WHEN YOU GET BACK:
• Check your bank and card statements for any unfamiliar transactions. If you do spot any, report them to your bank immediately.
• Fraudulent transactions can be reported to the Fraud Prevention Department of most major UK banks using the short phone number – 159
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WINTER FUEL PAYMENTS

The Government recently announced the reinstatement of Winter Fuel Payments to eligible pensioners with an income lower than £35,000.
So once again the criminals have seen an opportunity to defraud unsuspecting victims by sending texts and emails claiming to be from the Department of Work and Pensions – DWP.
The first clue that these are a Scam is the fact they refer to an “Energy Allowance” in the heading, as opposed to Winter Fuel Payments.
Secondly, they infer that you will have to apply by clicking the link in the message with a very short application period, so using the usual tactic of creating a sense of urgency for potential victims to sign up.

DWP will never ask you to apply for the Winter Fuel Payment, all eligible pensioners will be paid automatically by DWP and there is no need to provide any details or complete any application forms.
Please feel free to share these messages with any vulnerable friends, relatives, or neighbours
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Time : 10 am – 4 pm

Dates: Saturday 21st June & Sunday 22nd June 2025

Thursday 26th, Friday 27th, Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th June 2025

Thursday 3rd, Friday 4th, Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th July 2025.

Venue:  Granary Cottage, 43, School Street, Honeybourne.