91-year-old Torquay Neighbourhood Watch volunteer recognised for hard work
Eileen Deacon has been awarded a long-time volunteer certificate
Last updated 12th Jun 2023
A 91-year-old woman from Torquay has been recognised for her hard work with the Neighbourhood Watch.
Eileen Deacon has been awarded a long-time volunteer certificate. She joined around 20 years ago in 2003/2004.
Eileen tells Greatest Hits Radio Devon how it all started: “I used to go to the annual meetings for Neighbourhood Watch Torbay and I was invited on to the committee. One thing led to another and I became the treasurer - and now I’m the lead apparently!”
She explains about her work in bringing back the Feel Safe scheme: “I used to be able to get a little bit of money to help this person or that person. I got a lot of people to have little things like door chains or anti-crime paint.
"It created a lot of goodwill for both the police and the Neighbourhood Watch and then suddenly it wasn’t there anymore, so I thought it might be good to try to put that back.
"The police also have something called the Torbay Police Vulnerable Forum. They used to meet once a month and they looked at the Feel Safe scheme and they thought it could fit with them as well."
John Hayward-Cripps is the Chief Executive of Neighbourhood Watch across England and Wales. He said the strength of Neighbourhood Watch is lots of people doing something for their little community:
"As things change, communities change. There are now online communities, people that rarely see each other, but you can still provide some support and information, even online.
"As the community changes, Neighbourhood Watch is changing, but the core is still looking out for your neighbours, looking out for each other and looking our for your neighbourhood."
He adds that volunteers are fantastic, and that Eileen, who volunteers locally, is a star.