THE man who founded the East Sussex Wildlife Rescue and Ambulance Service along with a Hailsham police officer have been honoured in the Queen’s birthday honours list.
Trevor Weeks who founded the East Sussex WRAS in 1996, is to receive an MBE, while PC Kate Brookman, who has been a Neighbourhood Schools Officer covering south Wealden for 17 years, has been awarded the Queen’s Police Medal.
Eastbourne-born Trevor has spent all of his life living in East Sussex, and was just 13-years-old when he first became involved with wildlife rescue and conservation work.
It is estimated that Trevor has now been on call helping wildlife in need for over 145,000 hours for the Stone Cross-based charity and helped rescue approximately 50,000 animals over the last 27 years.
He said that he would not be receiving this award if it was not for the help and support of WRAS’s supporters, its volunteers and committee.
The first he knew of the honour was a letter from the Cabinet Office a month ago. He said: “I opened the letter whilst in a long queue of traffic on my way to the Casualty Centre one morning, I had to pull over into a lay-by to re-read it several times. To say the least, I was shocked. I never thought I would ever be accepted for anything like this. I feel privileged to be named for such an prestigious award.”
Trevor is now awaiting an invitation to an investiture ceremony organised by the Central Chancery of the Order of Knighthood at St James’s Palace. Once this has taken place WRAS hope to hold a small celebration as a thank you to its supporters and volunteers.
He added: “I would like to express my personal thanks to all our loyal volunteers and supporters without whom WRAS would not exist and my role helping wildlife would not be possible. I do not see this award as being mine, but as a national acknowledgement of everyone past and present who have helped make me who I am and have made my involvement in WRAS what it is today.
“I feel deeply honoured to receive this award, and I hope this will help bring in funding and prove our commitment to help wildlife in need.”
PC Kate Brookman has worked with thousands of children over many years and is affectionately known as ‘PC Kate’.
She explained: “It started when I went to my first school assembly for children aged only four or five. I thought it would be simpler for them to remember my first name, but it was also important to keep the ‘PC’. I wanted them to learn that police are people who are friendly and who they can trust.
“Since then, it’s stuck! In the local area, everyone calls me that. Some of the young people I used to work with now have children of their own at school, so there are whole generations who call me ‘PC Kate’. I love it, but it’s sometimes confusing when people come to the police station or call asking for me!”
PC Kate first joined Sussex Police as a special constable, because she wanted to see what it was like before deciding if it was the right choice for her. She has been a full-time officer for 26 years - with roles including neighbourhood officer in Eastbourne, communications officer at Gatwick and crime scene support officer - before she found her passion working with young people.
Talking about what she enjoys most about her role, she added: “I am lucky to meet so many great young people, especially as they can unfairly get a bad name from others. I feel privileged already to work with them, so could hardly believe when I was told I’d be receiving an honour from the Queen.
“Of course, I also help schools and families deal with some really difficult issues. What makes me most proud is when I can help a young person through a really rough patch or when they come back when they’re older and tell me I helped keep them on the right path and out of trouble.
“I’m a huge believer in working with the community. The police cannot identify issues or solve problems on our own. I am lucky to have schools who phone me regularly, shops that let me know what’s going on, not to mention all the assistance from young people’s families and friends and the wider public.
“The world changes, but young people and their issues stay largely the same. I’m still doing the safety talks in schools and speaking with head teachers like I did 17 years ago, but these days I also have 1,900 Facebook friends who I share advice with and who sometimes ask me for help.”
PC Kate Brookman is married to Sussex Police officer Chief Inspector Steve Brookman, who works in the Operational Communications Department, and they have two teenage boys. Her family are excited to be accompanying her to Buckingham Palace later in the year where she’ll receive the honour.
Chief Constable Martin Richards adds: “I am delighted that Kate’s passion to serve her local community has been recognised. The way Kate has dedicated her career to working with young people - from giving them the knowledge to stay safe at a very young age through to helping them during really challenging times in later years - is an inspiration to us all.”
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Print this pageSource: www.eastbourneherald.co.uk
Facebook's Explore London 2012: Get Social With The Summer Games - PC Advisor
Facebook is getting into the Olympic spirit with Explore London 2012 on Facebook, a portal where you can find and get Facebook updates from your favorite athletes, national teams, and individual sports during the Olympic Games in London.
Facebook says it intends to add national Olympics broadcasters such as NBC and Olympic sponsors to the London 2012 portal in the coming weeks.
The Facebook portal is the first of several efforts from the International Olympics Committee to get social during London 2012. The IOC also plans to launch London 2012-themed pages on Twitter, Tumblr, and Google+, as well as a partnership with Foursquare.
How To Like London 2012
To get Olympic updates on Facebook, all you have to do is “like” the pages for your favorite athletes, sports, or national teams via the Explore London 2012 portal. Then updates from that person's or sport's page, including personal status updates, medal standings, and photos, are pushed to your news feed. It's a simple way to keep up with personal updates from athletes such as swimmer Ryan Lochte or all the latest news from Team USA.
Explore London 2012
Facebook's London 2012 portal is well organized with a cover photo at the top, and then two profile photos for the Olympic Games and London 2012. Below that is a section of highlighted Olympic athletes, including LeBron James, swimmers Dara Torres and Michael Phelps, beach volleyball player Misty May-Treanor, and U.K. soccer star David Beckham. The site features about 200 of the several thousands of Olympic athletes competing in the games.
Below the athletes section are links to the Olympic national teams, and then to specific Olympic sports such as boxing, gymnastics, tennis, triathlon, and volleyball. Thirty-six sports are represented at London 2012, but the portal currently has links to 25.
Each Olympic sport is linked to the page for that sport's official international body. For example, liking aquatics will give you Facebook updates from Federation Internationale de Natation (FINA), the world governing body for swimming. Liking Tennis means you'll get updates from the International Tennis Federation (ITF).
A Facebook spokesperson says the company will add more sports and athlete pages to its portal before the Games begin.
Effective Use of London 2012
Facebook's portal is a handy way to find your favorite parts of the Olympics, but you might want to check out each individual page before liking to make sure you'll get updates during the games.
In my perusal of some of the top athletes' pages, most are maintaining their official pages with regular updates. But some weren't particularly active. That may change once the Olympics kicks into gear, but just be aware that some pages may not be as active as you'd like.
The Summer Olympic Games begin Friday, July 27 in London.
Connect with Ian Paul (@ianpaul) on Twitter and Google+, and with Today@PCWorld on Twitter for the latest tech news and analysis.
Source: www.pcadvisor.co.uk
Sussex burglar meets victims in prison to say sorry - eastbourneherald.co.uk
A PROLIFIC burglar, who targeted homes in Eastbourne and was jailed for seven years, has met some of his victims in prison to apologise for his crimes.
Barrie Williamson, 49, was caught in January this year after an intensive police investigation and an appeal on the BBC Crimewatch programme.
In April, Williamson was sentenced at Lewes Crown Court, after pleadeding guilty to four dwelling burglaries in Eastbourne, Hove, Worthing and Seaford in October last year.
The court also took into consideration his admission of a further 39 burglary offences from September last year to January, including six in Eastbourne, two in Seaford and one in Bexhill. Williamson struck at homes in Sussex, as well as in Lancashire, Dorset, Nottinghamshire, Kent, and Norfolk where he took jewellery and cash.
Now, Williamson has met four of his victims, who travelled to Coldiingley Prison in Surrey.
Victims of one of the Sussex burglaries, a husband and wife who do not wish to be named, said; “We found the conference very interesting and an extremely valuable and worthwhile experience.
“Barrie Williamson was not our idea of a stereotypical burglar. He remembered all of the details of the crimes involving all present at the conference and emotions ran high at times on all sides.
“At the end of what was a mentally draining experience, we had probably got all of our anger out of our systems and replaced it with a genuine hope that he would have the determination,support and opportunity to lead a law-abiding life on his release.”
After his sentencing at Lewes Crown Court, officers from the Sussex Police Priority Crime Team visited Williamson in prison where he expressed remorse for his offences and asked if he could say sorry to at least some of his victims. Sussex Police then set up its second Restorative Justice conference to be held in a prison, working with the prison governor, staff and Probation.
Restorative Justice is a forum when police arrange for victims to meet offenders to talk about the crimes that have been committed against them. It takes place after conviction and sentence usually takes place in a prison where the offender is serving his or her sentence.
The RJ process is unique within the criminal justice system since it is a voluntary process and the offender receives no rewards or other incentive to take part. It is based on the principle that those who have been involved in the crime are best place talk about it and look at ways in which the offender may be able to explain and atone for the harm that has been caused.
The victims can ask unanswered questions, with the view of gaining closure and for the offender to stop re-offending.
Source: www.eastbourneherald.co.uk
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