The Henley Watch and the HCPF are two separate organisations!

The Henley Watch recruitment officer, Sal Hebert, former editor of the Henley Herald, says that she has often found that people don’t understand the difference between the Henley Watch and the HCPF – and that you can belong to both

On several occasions while I was interviewing potential clients of the Henley Watch I have discovered that people are confused about the Henley Watch and the Henley on Klip Community Police Forum (HCPF).

Several people have called me thinking they were joining the HCPF, and others have said they hadn’t joined the Henley Watch because they thought it was the HCPF.

The two organisations are not the same.

The Henley Watch is a community-based armed response company.

For its first 25 years it was fully run by its members but since 2015 the Henley Watch employs a professional guarding company, Henley Watch Services, to do the patrolling, which is done 24 hours per day, every day of the year.

Members are still the controllers, in radio contact with the patrollers, manning the radio system which is linked to Henley Watch alarms and emergency telephone number. Members pay fees. Inactive members pay more than the active members who do six duties per month.

Members’ alarms are monitored, and the guards of Henley Watch Services respond to alarm activations under the direction of the volunteer controllers.

As the guards are all PSIRA registered the insurance companies recognise the Henley Watch as they do other armed response companies. The Henley Watch is still community based, so it is an armed response company where members can phone in to ask, for instance, assistance in finding a lost dog or to call an ambulance.

The Henley Watch does not have offices, but Henley Watch Services now has a base at the corner of Ewelme Road and Wargrave North. Most Henleyites will recognise the blue Datsun with the gold Henley Watch logo seen driving around the village.

Community Police Forums are statutory bodies run by volunteers which are formed with the help of the local SA Police Service. Their role is liaison between the community and the SAPS. Members of a CPF are the “eyes and ears” of the police.

The HCPF is chaired by Marcel Esterhuysen. The park home at the corner of Henley Drive and Ewelme Road is their command centre which is open on Saturday mornings 09:00 to 12:00.

Their emergency number (081 813 3912) should be in every Henleyite’s phone.

There is no membership fee, so they rely on donations and fundraising.

These funds have been used, among other projects, to set up the camera system which can be seen along Ewelme Road and other spots. The HCPF volunteers patrol, amongst other duties, and are always looking for new members.

There are many in the village who are members of both the Henley Watch and the HCPF, but there should be many more.