Village facility re-opening plans
These plans were current on Sunday 14th June 2020, when the Parish Council Emergency Provision was wound down.
Village Hall
The Village Hall has many roles. It is a dance and fitness studio, a painting studio, a choir rehearsal room, a meeting room and a party venue. All of these uses may have different Covid-19 secure requirements. Looking at these in order of decreasing risk:
- Party venue: It is unlikely that private indoor parties will be permitted in the foreseeable future.
- Choir rehearsal room: Choir practices have been shown to be potential super spreader events and are unlikely to be permitted in the foreseeable future.
- Fitness studio: We will be following guidelines recently published by UK Active on how we can configure our facilities for safe operation.
- Dance studio: We will be following guidelines recently published by UK Active on how we can configure our facilities for safe operation.
- Painting studio: It is possible that classes of restricted numbers could be accommodated with just one person per table, appropriately spaced.
- Meeting venue: We can easily configure the Hall for the holding of meetings, provided that we follow the latest guidelines on social distancing and hygiene. We believe that these will be less stringent than for aerobic exercise and therefore that our plans for the dance and fitness studio configuration will more than meet these.
In addition to the need to re-configure the Hall, we will need to increase the gaps between classes. We already have strigent hygiene practices in place, but these will need to be increased in frequency. We are also purchasing some touch-free hand sanitising stations and the necessary notices that will remind people of their duties to keep others safe. Face coverings will be required by all attendees, unless an exemption has been agreed.
At the time the Emergency Provisions came to an end on Sunday 14th June 2020, there were no Government guideline dates for re-opening Village Halls.
The Church
On Saturday 6th June 2020, the Bishop of London announced that re-opening churches for private prayer would be possible on Monday 15th June 2020. The Parish Recovery Group decided that this was too soon for St John's. Instead the Church will re-open on the patronal festival of Wednesday 24th June 2020 from 10:00-16:00, for private prayer only. Two stewards will be in attendance and strict distancing and hygiene protocols will be observed. This will be repeated each Wednesday.
The Pub
The Pub will re-open on Monday 6th July 2020. The exact layout and services available are yet to be confirmed.