Westbury and District U3A members attended the March meeting to hear Ash Jones, from the Senior Citizens Liaison Team (SCLT), a charity formed in 2009 and based in Bristol.
The aim of SCLT is to help the older population feel safer in their daily lives through three primary objectives – crime prevention, victim support and social advocacy. Ash, a policeman in his day job, started by giving us facts and figures about our ageing population and also some crime statistics.
“The world population is ageing overall and in the UK there are over 15 million people aged 60 and over; this is equivalent to the entire combined population of New Zealand, Ireland and Denmark. During the last century, life span in the UK has increased by around thirty years. One in three babies born today can expect to live to an age of one hundred.
Ash then went on to discuss the three main sorts of crime against the whole population, particularly the elderly and those mentally vulnerable. First he quoted a judge from the 1200s, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
Ash explained that we all need to be aware of doorstop distraction crimes but that phone, email and mail scams are increasing in both number and sophistication. He gave the audience some useful tips on recognising and avoiding such crimes. One of the problems is that relatively few people report becoming victims or that they have been targeted.
A complete change of subject in April, Hadrian’s Wall by Ben Kane, who has walked the wall dressed as a roman soldier. The time is 2pm, on Tuesday 11th April at the United Reformed Church Hall. You will be very welcome.”
