Riverwood Residents Association Annual Newsletter 2016
The committee have distributed our first annual newsletter to every house in the estate. If you haven’t received one you can contact us and we will drop one around to you.
If you are happy to read it online you can download the PDF or keep reading…
WHO WE ARE
The aim of Riverwood Residents Association is to represent the interests of residents covering maintenance / enhancement of the general environment, lobbying of Fingal County Council and engaging Gardaí on local issues, security of residents, monitoring of planning proposals impacting the area, services for residents and local schools’ enrolment policies. We are open to addressing any issues that are of concern to local residents. We hold an AGM annually in early summer where residents can raise issues and have a say in decisions. We can also be contacted at any time via our website, by email (riverwoodres@yahoo.ie) or via our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/RiverwoodRes/).
The committee meets at 20.00 on the first Tuesday of every month at The Carpenter. We are always looking for new committee members, particularly from parts of the estate that are not well represented and all are welcome. Your residents association committee is Frank Lynch (Chair – Copse), Mark McMenamin (Copse), Damien Carbery (Chase), Gabriel Shanley (Chase), Peter Murray (Glen), Ilona & Mike Clinton (Park), Séamus Power (Grove), Mike & Eimear Soulsby (Heath) and Ruth Galvin (Court).
LAUNCH OF RIVERWOOD AWARE TEXT ALERT SERVICE
Earlier this year we launched the free Riverwood Aware text alert service. It is a text-only alert service for Riverwood Residents for security notifications, raising awareness across the estate of suspicious activities, community-based notifications and missing person/pet notifications. Following a leaflet and magnet drop we now have 180 of the 600 houses in the estate signed up and it has been receiving very positive feedback. Over 50 texts have been sent so far. Recently, with the help of Fingal County Council signs have been erected at the five entrances to the estate. If you have not yet joined the free service you can sign up by texting your name and road name to 087 7604369. If you have been using the service and are happy with it we ask that you promote it amongst your neighbours. A special thank you goes to its sponsor, Stop the Burglar (www.stoptheburglar.ie).
MAINTENANCE OF COMMON AREAS
Thanks to the persistence and continual engagement of our Chair, Frank Lynch, with Fingal County Council, they have completed a number or works this year in the estate including the planting of four new rose beds, pruning of trees and shrubs, and planting of daffodils, tulips and alliums which should look great in the spring. We are continuing to work with Fingal County Council on a number of projects. If you have any queries about these works please to send them to the residents association in the first instance who will be happy to answer them.
On Saturday 23 April we held our Annual Clean Up Day in conjunction with An Taisce National Spring Clean and they provided us with bags and gloves. Road Sweepers were arranged with Fingal County Council to go around the estate during the clean up to lift the loosened weeds from the road side.
NEW 30 KM/H SPEED LIMIT
Early in 2015 Fingal County Council reviewed speed limits in residential areas. We supported a 30 km/h limit within estates. In April 2016 the speed limit within Riverwood was lowered to 30 km/h. This makes the area safer for children and also reduces engine noise and emissions. We are currently engaging with Fingal County Council concerning a number of dangerous blind bends in the estate.
CHRISTMAS HOME SECURITY TIPS
Christmas is a special time when families and friends come together and celebrate. It is also the time of year when families and friends are most generous and practice the tradition of giving gifts. It should be a joyous and happy time for us all. Unfortunately for us, home burglars view the holiday season a little differently. For them, it is a time of opportunity to burglarise you home for cash, jewellery and all the new gifts neatly wrapped under the tree. Here are a few tips of what they look for when shopping for a home to burglarise. These tips will help you enjoy Christmas without incident:
- Burglars look for easy entry with good escape routes. Do not openly display your Christmas gifts in the front window.
- Burglars look for occupancy cues like outdoor lighting turned on 24 hours a day, piled up post on the floor behind the door. Ask a friend or neighbour to check and remove the post and turn the lights on and off at random times.
- If possible, have a car parked in the drive way facing the hall door.
- Extension cords running through a window for Christmas lights can create a severe security hazard as this usually prevents the window from being closed and locked.
- Do not place empty boxes from expensive gifts such as computers, X-BOX equipment, Smart TVs etc. out on bin collection day after the holidays. This may indicate to the burglar on the prowl that you have something worth stealing. Break down the boxes, shred them if you can or bring to the recycle station.
- Switch off Christmas lights and electrical items when you are not around. Make sure they are turned off to eliminate the possibility of fires caused by electrical items.
- Naked Flames; do not leave candles unguarded in your home and make sure they are not placed near flammable items.
- Avoid sharing too much information on social media about your movements or what you got from Santa.
CHRISTMAS SECURITY TIPS WHEN OUT SHOPPING
- Make more use of ATMs and withdraw money each day and hold NO CASH at home.
- When shopping in shopping centres avoid bringing bags laden with gifts back to the car in the car park and re- entering the shopping centre as the car park may be watched by would be thieves. Keep the back seat clear of shopping always place in the boot. Check with the store you are shopping in do they offer a holding area for goods bought for collecting later.
- When back at your car always securely put your handbag away first, but not on view on the front seat allowing it to be snatched while you are distracted putting your shopping away.
- When buying Christmas Raffle tickets do not put your full name, address or phone number of the ticket stub it is enough to give your first name and email address.
- If going away do not put your full contact details on identification tags on your luggage.
