DCC are providing free central heating grants, for low income households who do not currently have any central heating installed. See leaflet (link below) for more information.

Free Central Heating Leaflet

 

Durham County Council have launched a new scheme to support families who rely on free school meals.

Click http://www.durham.gov.uk/article/24482/Free-school-meals-scheme-launched-for-half-term for further information.

!! Cold Caller Warning !!

Durham Trading Standards have become aware of cold callers trying to sell goods on the doorstep in various areas of the County. In some cases, their approach has been persistent, causing both upset and annoyance.

While it is not an offence to simply cold call, we would always urge residents to be extremely cautious when dealing with unsolicited visitors.

Some top tips to keep yourself and others safe:

• DON’T accept uninvited callers
• DON’T be afraid to say ‘No’
• DON’T be rushed or feel pressured. Genuine traders will always be happy to return when a friend or family member is present
• DO keep an eye on your area and especially vulnerable neighbours. Has work started unexpectedly on their homes? Is the work visibly poor or been left unfinished? Is the person anxious about what has happened? Has a trader accompanied them to the bank?
• DO report suspicious cold callers to the Consumer Helpline on 0808 223 11 33 or to the police on 101

Learn more about how to protect yourself and others from scams by becoming a Friend Against Scams at: http://www.FriendsAgainstScams.org.uk/elearning/durham

http://www.durham.gov.uk/scams

Follow Durham Trading Standards on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/durhamts for updates on local scams affecting your community, consumer awareness campaigns and top tips on how to avoid becoming a victim of a scammer.

As we collectively emerge from the COVID 19 lockdown, Witton Gilbert Parish Council would like to place on record our thanks to the members of our community, and service providers, who have kept the village functioning through lockdown.

We would like to direct particular thanks to: the volunteers at the Fulforth Centre for cooking and delivering meals, an initiative that we continue to support financially, the staff at McColls, who as well as remaining open during lockdown, have also supported the home delivery scheme, also the Working Men’s Club for their community based activities.

We can also not fail to thank the other retailers, delivery drivers, posties, who serve the village, and we would ask you all to extend your personal thanks for their efforts during the last 3-4 months.

Looking forward, WGPC would ask you all to continue to support the local business that have remained open through lock-down, and those that will reopen in the near future.

Finally, we would emphasise that the pandemic is a long way from being over, so would ask you all to continue conducting yourselves as you have done to date, and hopefully we’ll all get through this in one piece.

Wishing you continued good health

Witton Gilbert Parish Council

Useful links to information on the Covid-19 outbreak.  To access click page link