This has been a very rewarding year so far, on a personal level, when it comes to some of the work I am getting involved in on local issues. Some people are natural local warriors but for me it has been a fairly recent thing to step forward. It could be that having focussed on work to a level where it has provided me with a nice lifestyle and some stability, it has given me the time, tools and skills to contribute to the community.

Being one of the early administrators of the Southbourne Facebook Group (SoBo) it had been fantastic to see the group top 5000 members at the end of last year and now it has gone over 6000 in March.

I don't know if any other community group around Bournemouth has the same level of engagement and the community spirit really came out in the recent cold spell. We had people clearing hazardous icy paths and roads, 4x4 owners helping out giving lifts to health care workers and others, and offers to help in many different ways. Whilst the ice only last two days, that spirit has been there for a long time.

Having set up the BH6-CAT Facebook page as a separate entity to the main SoBo group, to have a clearer space for awareness on crime in the area, I was able to get a discount code for people on the Ring video doorbell. We are getting noticed, by people in the Bournemouth Echo, by the local policing team and now by our local MP Tobias Ellwood who has organised a meeting on May 4th inviting residents, councillors and local police.

I went to a recent meeting of the local Neighbourhood Policing Team with Pokesdown Traders. It was the first time I had been to these kinds of meetings but learnt a lot about how policing works, what success they have had and the financial cuts they are having to work under. Communication is key for the community and Social Media is helping.

Another project I have been involved in is the start of creating a Neighbourhood Plan for West Southbourne. Boscombe and Pokesdown are nearing the end of their Plan. The reason why we are only working on a West Southbourne plan is that there is already a group of people campaigning on issues over West Southbourne and Tuckton way. We had reached out to them but they was focussed on issues at hand for now.

West Southbourne itself is a smaller area and this could help us make fast progress on the Plan. It won't be easy, there is a lot of work to be done, by us volunteers but we see it as one of the few tools where a community can have a very strong say in how they want their area to develop. It's not a panacea for everything, but we have to take advantage of all the tools available to us. Please visit and register at the West Southbourne Neighbourhood Plan website.

The defibrillator meetings are progressing well and we should have something in place within a month or two. I was surprised to hear that they are only meant to cover a 250 metre radius because the emergency services wouldn't recommend people driving to get one, due to many factors. However, having something on the High Street, where there can be a concentration of people is probably the best option.