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I feel £6.50 FOR  glass of wine was a bit dear but there u go I cannot change it I don't want visitors feel they are being ripped off

NO CRIME TO REPORT IN THE LAST 24 HOURS !
 
NO BURGLARIES
 
AND
 
NO CARS BROKEN INTO
 
FIRST - I have put this out in Ascot today:
25/6 - 27/6  Monday 11 a.m. / Wednesday 12.15 p.m.  Station Road.  An aggrieved has checked their CCTV, which shows an offender walking up to their post box, three times in the last three days, opening it with a key and removing 3 or 4 packages.  It also shows him sitting nearby waiting for the post to be delivered.  Can everyone be on their guard and make sure post that you are expecting, is arrives on time - particularly if it relates to banks / credit / debit cards etc..
 
NEXT:  a message from MEN IN SHEDS - the only group in the Borough specifically for men over 50.  There are a large number of women’s groups for all ages, but men don’t seem to do ‘Groups’ very well and when they retire or become a widower, can feel very isolated.  Hence the creation of MEN IN SHEDS
 
Men in Sheds will be re-opened by Cllr David Coppinger at Boyn Grove on Friday 29 June at 2 pm.
“I am pleased to say that I took delivery of a new shed at Boyn Grove today, and that we will be having an opening event this Friday 29th at 2pm.  Councillor Coppinger will kindly open the shed with Martin Yarrow Optalis Chief executive. Michael Tucker will be demonstrating building a bat box and the Maidenhead Advertiser will be covering the opening. Please come along to see our new shed and let men who might like to attend know about this event and our regular opening time which will be every Friday 10-12.30 from July onwards. I have attached a poster which includes details of Boyn Grove’s location and Friday’s event.


 
MAIDENHEAD CENTRAL:
maidenheadcentralnhpt@thamesvalley.pnn.police.uk
NO CRIME TO REPORT.
 
RIVERSIDE & BELMONT:
NO CRIME TO REPORT.
 
MAIDENHEAD WEST
maidenheadwestnhpt@thamesvalley.pnn.police.uk
BISHAM, COOKHAM, HURLEY, THE WALTHAMS, LITTLEWICK GREEN & KNOWL HILL:
NO CRIME TO REPORT.
 
PINKNEYS GREEN & FURZE PLATT:
MAIDENHEAD SOUTH
maidenheadsouthnhpt@thamesvalley.pnn.police.uk
BOYN HILL, COX GREEN & WOODLANDS PARK:
NO CRIME TO REPORT.
 
OLDFIELD & BRAY:
NO CRIME TO REPORT.
 
 
MEMBERS’ COMMENTS
FIRST: from Patty:
 
Hi
 
I know if you see an international call with number showing on your phone - 0039015 - it should ring alarm bells, but this morning, my husband picked up a call.
A recorded message said our internet would be cut off by BT tomorrow.  He put phone down to come and tell me....I pay BT by direct debit, so I knew there would not be a problem.  I immediately checked the number online.  It was so obviously a scam, other people had also queried it.
I don’t know if this was an attempt to get us to pay, or it was to check if this was an active number.
Since I took the answerphone off, we have had less nuisance calls. Is this a tactic these annoying people use ?
 
Patty
 
The calls aren’t generated by real people, but a computer that dials 8 or 9 random numbers in batches of ten.  If one of those number is active, the other nine are stopped - hence silent calls.  They re-join the list for the next ten calls.  If 9 out of 10 number are unresponsive, the computer bins them and does not dial them again.  If it rings, but is not answered, it goes onto a separate database of live numbers.  If someone answers / answerphone, it goes onto another database of ‘responders’.  These are the most valuable numbers and the databases are sold.  The minute you hear someone on the other end of the phone, that is trying to sell your something or scam you - ‘This is Hammersmith Police Station…’  Do not engage or say anything, just put the phone down - it is not rude and because they have rung you - you do not have to respond.
 
When you pick up the phone, the correct response is simply ‘Hello’.  You do not give your name, or your telephone number.  Both are pieces of information the caller may not have, as the call is randomly dialled.  This also applies to answerphone messages - no personal information.  A simple message - ‘We are unable to come to the phone at the moment, please leave a message.  Boring, but safe.  Always use we - even if you live alone !  You don’t want to give a scammer, any advantageous knowledge.
 

Also Birdman they supply a comfortable place for us to sit and enjoy ourselves. I was talking to someone from the Cricket Club and they were saying that the Swan Uppers costs are on a par with their large glasses of wine. I think we forget how prices have escalated up.

from the National Gardens Scheme

We have a strictly limited number of tickets that have become available for Bruern Abbey, Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire on Wednesday 4th July. The tickets originally sold out in less than 24 hours so these will not be available for long.

Commissioned from the designer Angel Collins, who will be on hand to answer questions about the garden throughout the afternoon, the gardens at Bruern have been carefully designed to complement the house and setting in the charming Oxfordshire countryside.

Tickets are priced at £25 and includes homemade teas. There is strictly limited availability so book now to avoid disappointment. https://www.ngs.org.uk/event/bruern-abbey/

But isn't one of the problems folks that we are so accustomed to paying tuppence a ton for 'BOGOFs' at the supermarket (which they can afford by paying unsustainable low prices to their poor suppliers and farmers resulting in trashed countryside) that we forget all the on-costs when we go into a restaurant. They may well get the raw materials even more cheaply than we can, but then they store it for us, offer far more choice than our own little home fridge can hold, keep food and drinks chilled for us, pay staff to cook it and serve it for us, do all the washing up and hoovering after we have spread it all over their carpet and hope to get to bed at least a few hours before opening again next morning.

If supermarkets had to do all that as well as fleece their suppliers, the special offers would soon disappear!

Generally I think UK pubs are good value, though there is of course the one main gripe remaining against all drinking establishments: using glasses designed to only hold the recognised quantity paid for by having it swilling all over the brim. Before you get to the table youv'e lost a percentage of what youv'e paid for all over your trousers or dress and the carpet, and your fingers are covered in the stuff. And if you ask for just a little less than the pint or half to avoid that problem you get some very strange looks! Or is it just me??!!

£6.50 for a 250ml glass of wine is cheaper than Bel & Dragon, cheaper than The White Oak, on a par with the Kings Head & not a bad price for a pub in the South East of England in 2018. Obviously not as cheap as a £5 bottle of plonk from Countrystore but that's hardly a fair comparison. The Swan Uppers seems to be busy most of the time & a thriving pub full of locals & visitors so I assume their punters don't feel ripped off, I know I don't.

MAIDENHEAD CENTRAL:
maidenheadcentralnhpt@thamesvalley.pnn.police.uk
25/6 - 26/6  Monday 9 p.m. / Tuesday 6.30 a.m.  Stafferton Way Retail Park.  Burglary to warehouse.  Offenders cut a hole in the rear gate and climbed through into the warehouse.  Not known at this time if anything stolen.
25/6  Monday 10 p.m.  Norrey’s Drive.  A house window shattered and a small hole found in centre.  Repeat victim.  CCTV shows some lads wearing hoodys running away.
 
RIVERSIDE & BELMONT:
26/6 - 27/6  Tuesday 6.30 p.m. / Wednesday 0.30 a.m.  Ray Mead Road.  Rowing boat stolen from the river near the house.
 
MAIDENHEAD WEST
maidenheadwestnhpt@thamesvalley.pnn.police.uk
BISHAM, COOKHAM, HURLEY, THE WALTHAMS, LITTLEWICK GREEN & KNOWL HILL:
NO CRIME TO REPORT.
 
PINKNEYS GREEN & FURZE PLATT:
NO CRIME TO REPORT.
 
MAIDENHEAD SOUTH
maidenheadsouthnhpt@thamesvalley.pnn.police.uk
BOYN HILL, COX GREEN & WOODLANDS PARK:
25/6 - 26/6  Monday 10.30 p.m. / Tuesday 6.20 a.m.  Cannon Lane.  Black Ford Focus index EN ** UHJ stolen from outside a house.  The car is keyless and the owner, still has their key.  The car had been advertised through a website and three men made arrangements via the internet, to view it.  They came in a white transit all in their mid 20s, with Irish accents.  The aggrieved believes they may have had a device to copy the key and later returned and stole the car.
 
OLDFIELD & BRAY:
24/6 - 25/6  Sunday 4.30 p.m. / Monday 5 p.m.  Golf Club, Shoppenhangers Road.    Car parked to block incursion to the club, had its windows smashed
22/6 - 25/6  Hibbert Road, Bray.  Tools left down the side of a house stolen - a jetwash, generator and petrol cutter stolen.
25/6  Monday 11 a.m. / 2.15 p,.m.  The Green, Holyport.  Van left with windows open.  The aggrieved left their wallet on display on the dashboard and it was stolen.
 
MEMBERS’ COMMENTS:
 
I received this sad message from Natasha, which she asks me to circulate to help others:
 
Hi
 
My late father, who had previously been as sharp as a pin, had complications resulting from cancer, which caused a gradual decline in his executive functioning, in the last few weeks of his life. Following his death, as I am his executor, I went through credit card bills to check nothing was amiss.
 
I found a payment at the end of February, to a tech support company based in the U.S. for £199.95. This rang alarm bells for me, as he would always either use a local computer support company in Dedworth, or ask my brother who works in IT to help him, if he needed anything.
 
A Google search of the company, revealed lots of hits relating to possible scams, raising my suspicions. They also had several other company names.  I contacted my father's bank and explained the circumstances. They agreed to treat it as fraudulent and refunded the money.
 
Recently, I received a letter from the bank stating that the company have said the payment was authorised, following a phone call to them from my father, requesting immediate computer support and an annual service plan. The bank are requesting the money back, unless I further dispute this. The bank photocopied some very unconvincing and largely irrelevant paperwork from the company.
 
I have disputed it.  I accept that I have no way of proving that this was a cold call. I cannot prove anything, as I wasn't there.  My father would NEVER have phoned an American number for computer support in this way, when he was well. Although the payment may have been authorised by him, this does not mean a scam has not taken place.  This method of getting custom, is simply preying on the vulnerable.
 
So I have further disputed the transaction with the bank, asked them to look into this company further and asked if they can discuss with Action Fraud. I fully expect to get nowhere. My initial contact was with Action Fraud but they would not pursue it at that time, as the alleged crime, was not committed against me, and they recommended I go through the bank.
 
Although I agree the payment may have been authorised by my father, my concern is that the means by which they obtained this payment was fraudulent.  I expect their primary aim, is to obtain money and personal information from the vulnerable.
 
Can you please share this with everyone, as a warning to them ?
 
Natasha
 
I am very sorry to hear this very sad tale.  As everyone saw in Mondays Alert, another elderly person was scammed out of her life savings in a cold call Courier Fraud !  The issue with those types of fraud, is intention.  If she handed over the cash willingly, there is often little banks will do – unless you can prove fraud / scam, which is sometimes very difficult.
 
This sounds to me like the Windows / Microsoft / BT Scams.  It is very unlikely Natasha’s father would have phoned them, for online security advice.  Most of us, if we have a computer problem, find a local IT shop to resolve it.  Generally these payments are the result of a cold call – ‘I work for Microsoft / Windows / BT and I can see from my screen here that you have a problem and that your computer is running slowly….we can fix that for you’….. 9 out of ten payments of this kind will be the result of these scam calls.  Everyone out there will have received several of these calls each week. The other issue will be – all these calls are made from abroad – even though a local number shows up on your phone – so the crime is an international one which we find almost impossible to deal with.
 

IsasOK I am not a wine expert I just feel we a are cheeching  the visitors which is not on. Cookham is a beautiful villagge

Was it a nice glass of wine though?

I know they have to make a living and pay staff, but visitor will go away and say they were ripped off for drinks in Cookham and that is not we need. I was upset at being charged 6.50 for  a glass of white wine.