Village Centre Update 29th May 2020

corona virus imageAs we said a couple of weeks ago, slowly the lock-down is being eased and the Village Centre Trustees are planning for the day when we can start to reopen the Centre.

We are hopeful that in due course, as part of the Government’s planned Stage 3 release of the lock-down, we may be able to open at least part of the Centre for exercise and dance classes. The current guidance from the Government is that the Stage 3 release will not be until the beginning of July, at the earliest. Accordingly, we are making plans for limited opening from Monday 6th July.

The Trustees have also decided that the 6th of July will be the earliest date that the Centre will reopen, even if government guidance changes to allow legal opening before then. We need the coming weeks to prepare the Centre for safe reopening. It is important to realise that at the time of writing, in late May, the date of the 6th July cannot be regarded as a certainty. It will depend on how things progress over the next few weeks.

What we hope will be possible . . .

The resumption of small groups of exercise and dance classes that use the main hall. Groups that normally use the smaller rooms in the Centre will have to  move temporarily into the main hall in order to maintain the correct social distancing.

The only rooms in the Centre that will be open initially will be: the main St Nicholas Hall, the entrance lobby and the toilet off the main hall. All other rooms, the Garden Room, the Loft, the Hub, the kitchen, the main toilets etc. will remain closed for the time being.

What we will NOT be able to do straight away . . .

In a normal week the Centre is used for many different types of event, including parties, weddings, community lunches, Village Voice talks, the Village Cinema and others. None of these will be able to take place yet. Once we have had some experience of running the Centre in the limited manner outlined above, we will start to plan for the opening up of the venue for these larger functions. It is not currently possible to say when this will be. We will post more information here as soon as the situation becomes clearer. But, there is light at the end of the tunnel!

There is much more about the Coronavirus situation on the Dersingham Parish Council website, Dersingham.org.uk which has a dedicated page of information and loads of links to useful websites.

Meanwhile, stay safe, protect yourself and protect others and keep washing those hands. Let’s keep Dersingham fit and healthy!