Based in The New Forest, The Honeypot Charity supports very vulnerable children and young carers aged 5-12 years, with respite holidays and a long term support programme. Honeypot gives these children a chance of having a childhood by providing opportunities to play in a safe and nurturing environment. The holidays include trips to the beach, swimming, riding bikes and toasting marshmallows over camp fires. These activities create wonderful memories and something exciting to look forward to throughout the year, knowing they will return each year until they are 12 years old.

Commenting on the partnership John Harber, Managing Director Sony Ericsson UK said: “The day we spent at Honeypot House is the first of a range of different fundraising activities that we will be encouraging our staff to take part in. We will also be looking to create auction opportunities around our music properties such as Ibiza Rocks and enter a team in Sony Ericsson Run to the Beat – London’s first half marathon set to music.”

Running until the 2nd of November and with some great items still up for grabs including a signed Gordon Ramsay book, a Justin Timberlake special edition Gold Disc and a signed 6 Nations Ireland Rugby shirt, be sure to check it out and do your bit to support the less fortunate.

Cyber bullying is one of the nastiest types of bullying and it can make you feel threatened, scared and upset, especially if you don’t know who is doing it, but there are lots of things that you and your parents can do about it.

In the past, when you left school at the end of the day, you could leave the bullies behind, but these days bullies think it’s clever to send anonymous text messages or to leave abusive comments on your voicemail. They might also use their mobile phones to send spoof messages to other people which make it appear that the text has come from you.

To stay safe, the first thing to do is to make sure that you only give your mobile number to trusted family and friends.

A lot of bullying is done by ex-friends so if they’re making nuisance calls to your number it can be a good idea to get a new SIM card. It might seem unfair to have to do this but that way you can end the problem quickly.

You might think your parents or whoever cares for you will be cross if you’re having problems with your phone or on the internet, but that isn’t the case. In Bullying UK’s experience parents are not likely to take the phone away but will be concerned and want to help you to sort the problem out.

It is an offence in the UK to use the phone system to cause alarm or distress. This means that if the bullies send you threatening messages or abusive ones, they are breaking the law. There’s also an offence called ‘harassment’ so if someone keeps sending you nasty texts they could be breaking that law too. If there are lots of silent calls that can be harassment too.

There’s also something called happy slapping which is an assault filmed on a mobile phone and then sent to other people’s phones or posted on the internet.

It isn’t difficult for the police to trace the people behind these offences but they need your help to do it. Everything a bully does on their mobile phone or uploads to the internet has their digital fingerprints all over it. Even if they have withheld their phone number!

The first thing your parents or carer need to do is to look at the messages so save them and don’t delete them. Sometimes they might be embarassing, the sender might say that you are gay, or mention rumours of things which are not true, perhaps that you’ve done something really wrong that you wouldn’t want anyone else to know about. Often they make things up based on secrets you’ve told them in the past.

It’s tempting to reply to messages and if you get angry that can lead to a flame war. Bullies enjoy winding you up so don’t give them the satisfaction of showing you are upset or losing your temper.

Show the texts or voicemails to your parents or carer and tell them a bit about what’s been going on. If the calls are very unpleasant then they need to take the phone to the police station and make a complaint. The police can contact your mobile phone company to get a list of the numbers that have called your phone. You may not know who they are but they’re not as anonymous as they thought they were!

Bullying UK has had complaints about spoof abusive texts which appear to have been sent from a particular mobile phone number when they have been sent through internet websites and not from a mobile phone. If you are accused of sending a message when you know you haven’t done so then the police can check with your mobile phone provider to clear your name. This is very rare but unfortunately it does happen.

In most cases people who make abusive calls are warned off and that does the trick. If they’re stupid enough to keep doing it then they may be cautioned if they admit an offence or in serious cases of happy slapping assault they could end up in court.

Most mobile phone operators will let you block calls from withheld numbers or from numbers you don’t want to call you so if you’re starting to have trouble phone customer services and ask their advice about whether there is anything you can do to stop the problem getting worse.

Bullying by mobile or the internet is often part of a bigger picture so if you’re upset by this you don’t have to put up with it on your own. There is lots of practical advice and help for you and your parents or carer on the Bullying UK website at www.bullying.co.uk. There’s also advice for schools and youth organisations.

Bullying UK

A few years ago we took it one step further and set up CharityMobiles.co.uk, a website where we donate £25 to your chosen charity when you buy a pay monthly mobile phone. To date we have raised over £20,000 for charity and the amount keeps growing, month by month.

There is a massive selection of charities on there, from choral groups to childrens respite centres. With the money we have raised we have helped to send children on dream holidays, helped to fund important medical research, funded university alumni projects and helped to pay to feed animals in need.

Everyone from Mobiles.co.uk would like to thank all the charities involved for their continued support and all the customers who choose to give something back when buying themselves a new phone.

With this in mind Mobiles.co.uk are campaigning to ensure that all mobile phone retailers actively encourage their customers to recycle their unwanted phones. Each phone recycled through the Oxfam Bring Bring Scheme means at least £5 to charity, which equates to five school books for developing countries.

Since the partnership between Mobiles.co.uk and the Oxfam Bring Bring Scheme began in November 2005, Mobiles.co.uk customers have raised enough funds to pay for all of the following;

• The building of 2 classrooms
• 10,000 school dinners, which encourage children living in poor communities to go to school
• The training of 15 community health workers in hygiene, health awareness or counselling which help them to keep their community healthy.
• The planting of 25 trees, which provide not only food and shelter, but also help to slow soil erosion
• 3 donkeys which can be used for carrying water, powering irrigation and also give a source of free fertiliser.

All producers, retailers and distributors of mobile phones must already comply with ‘The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE Directive)’. This directive aims to reduce impact on the environment by promoting the re-use and recycling of electronic products. The directive enforces corporate responsibility by making the producers and retailers responsible for financing the collection, treatment and recovery of their electrical products.

By using incentives and inviting their customers to use the pre-paid bags supplied with every new phone, Mobiles.co.uk can ensure that they are not only giving to the third world but they are also protecting the environment by keeping electronic waste out of our already full landfill sites. This already successful scheme shows other companies how simple and easy it is to help benefit others, and Mobiles.co.uk is keen to encourage others to embrace Bring Bring.

To find out more about the Oxfam Bring Bring Scheme, please visit:
OXfam Bring Bring
Mobiles.co.uk Recycling