Great Eastern Women Run 2010

Great Eastern Women Run 2010, WHEN Marianne Mattingly heard a young girl screaming profanity in the street on a Saturday night, she put it down to the usual drunken shenanigans she hears just about every weekend. But when a young man in his 20s came into her driveway with a bloodied face and a severely split lip, the Moffat Beach resident became determined to bring her neighbourhood closer together to prevent something like this from happening again.

"The guy had been beaten up on Bulcock Street and it was his sister who was screaming out. I should’ve yelled out 'Do you need help?’ but I couldn’t see them from where I was and there is always that fear of getting involved in something that could end up turning on you," Ms Mattingly said.

"They had only moved here two weeks ago and while all the profanity sounded like a dramatic lovers’ quarrel, the sister was obviously in shock and didn’t know where she was to direct the ambulance to.

"Once he came in here, I called them and they were here in two minutes."

The traumatic incident has prompted Ms Mattingly to approach her neighbours to get their phone numbers to prevent something like this happening again.

"They were out there for 30 minutes before he wandered into my driveway. If one of the neighbours had just opened their curtains they would have seen what was happening," she said.

"We have all agreed that it is okay if we call each other at 2am, we just need to take back control of our streets to make them safe again.

"It is important for us as neighbours to know what is going on in our own neighbourhood."

Ms Mattingly is worried that Caloundra will lose its sense of community. "This is a growing place, but many of us moved here because it is a lovely place to raise our kids and people look after each other," she said.

"Perhaps we are becoming too complacent because we don’t think much happens, but we need to pay more attention."

Ms Mattingly is considering starting a Neighbourhood Watch in Moffat Beach.

Caloundra Senior Sergent Peter Dickens, who is the NHW liaison officer, said the program had been operating for more than 20 years and was not about intrusive neighbours, but getting to know them and feeling safe that you can call on them in times of need or an emergency.

"NHW is run by the residents and assisted by police who provide information about criminal activity in the area and information is exchanged," Senior Sergeant Dickens said.

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