MAKING a drama out of a crisis has paid off for the West Devon Neighbourhood Watch group, which is celebrating after winning a national competition for making a difference to their community, organised by Acco Brands and Neighbourhoodwatch.net . The group played a leading role in staging the premiere of a show called Scambuster. Played out by professional actors from the Solomon Theatre Company, the show was based on real life stories and aimed to make audiences more aware of the possibility of falling victim to ID theft, bogus callers and other scams. West Devon Neighbourhood Watch chairman Colin Harris said: 'We dug into our limited funds to help put on the show 'We helped bus-in 150 of our senior citizens to Yelverton Village Hall last month. Everybody enjoyed the show - it was a great success.' After seeing the show, West Devon resident Margaret Toseland, 84, said: 'I was nearly the victim of a postal scam. The show was very entertaining — I feel more confident about standing up for myself now." West Devon Neighbourhood Watch has also been active in publicising a local Trading Standards campaign called Scamwise by distributing window stickers and publishing articles in 30 village and parish magazines and on the association's website. The 'group of the month' were winners of a top of the range ProStyle shredder from Acco Rexel and a framed certificate. Mike Stranders, European product manager for Acco Rexel, said: 'We are pleased to be able to support this initiative from the Neighbourhood Watch and the West Devon association are very worthy winners of the first group of the month competition. 'Events like these help to raise awareness in the community and get the safety messages across. We are also excited to have launched the ProStyle shredder, which helps to eliminate the security risk that is posed if confidential documents are thrown away and not shredded.' With more than 50,000 cases of identity fraud reported in the UK each year, Rexel urges its customers to be vigilant in treating their confidential documents with care. This year marks the 25th anniversary of Neighbourhood Watch. There are 170,000 groups nationwide making it the largest voluntary movement in the UK.
