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Covid-19 and R15 events. Your thoughts please

tscaptain

PCGB Admin
Member
I need your thoughts about carrying on with events during these extraordinary times.

The current advice by HMG appears to be "Stay calm and carry on" and if you get a cough and fever stay in and self isolate. Of course, critics will argue that is the proverbial 'shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted' given that infected persons can pass on the virus during the 4-7 incubation period before any symptoms present.

I was sent an interesting piece to read by my daughter who has an MA and MPhil in virology and epidemiology. It's a lengthy but very balanced and revealing article and well worth the effort to read if you have 25 mins to spare. And certainly worth reading before you share your thoughts. It's here..

https://medium.com/@tomas...-will-die-f4d3d9cd99ca

What is clear, if the piece is correct, is that "social distancing'" is extremely important now and not, as HMG is planning, some time ( tba) in the future.

We know from our club survey that a very high proportion of our region membership are in the higher risk group simply by virtue of age, before you get to any underlying health issues.

So, do we wait for HMG to tell us we can't have social gatherings ( the suggestion is that we are about 4 weeks behind Italy) or do we get proactive as recommended by the attached article?

We could cancel all events up to, say, Powderham, in the hope that the epidemic is in decline by then or simply carry on as planned until we are told to stop ( which personally I think is inevitable).

Let me know your thoughts so that as Regional organisers we can get a bettter feel for the present sentiment.

Thank you

Alan
 
Alan,

As a non-Facebook oldie person, thanks for this post.

The approach I am taking personally is to minimise exposure to the risk so avoiding gatherings, shopping at times where store traffic is low, and washing hands at every opportunity. We have cancelled booked vacations but are holding out hope that our Sept/Oct vacation will still be possible. As to timing, Powderham in mid-July seems a sensible period to cancel events up to; where we are after that can be better judged in maybe 6 weeks time.

Ralph


 
That sounds like a sensible and responsible approach in the circumstances.

Also, please use this forum for Club business discussions as some of us do not (and have no wish to) use Facebook.
Regards,

Clive
 
Unless there is a significant shift in sentiment over the weekend, which I doubt will happen, I will advise HQ on Monday that we plan to cancel/postpone/pause our planned events until the beginning of May initially. To date the comments received are pretty much unanimous in their support for this. At that point we will review the situation.

The Powderham organisers have already fired a warning shot that the show could, possibly, be cancelled subject to any legislation or restrictions put in place.

During the period of suspension I will try to keep members engaged and updated with more frequent Mailchimps as there are many who do not frequent either FB or this forum.

 
I’m also a non facebook person so having the discussion on here works for me. I’ve cancelled a planned vacation to France, luckily before having to pay any money, and I’m planning to cancel the Cheltenham bash. We don’t have to call the hotel until a day or so prior to the reserved date, 25 th April, so I was going to wait until any info was forthcoming from the region.
The idea of 40-50 people on the trip in close proximity in the bar, etc, is not a good idea at the moment, (if ever ??), so I do think it would be prudent to close this planned trip down. I’m 71 now, and thankfully in good health, but why take chances?
I’ve booked a couple of nights for straight after this trip at 2 different hotels up in the midlands, so as it’s just the 2 of us, may still go to these, but if I decide to cancel I won’t be able to get my money back, (Travelzoo), so if they won’t allow me to postpone and change the dates I will lose my money. But that’s a small price to pay for peace of mind and maybe not getting sick. Who knows?
Anyway, we are in unknown territory, and anyone’s guess is as good as mine.
I know that the R.O.s have put a lot of effort into organising these events, and thank you to both of them, but it’s all part of life’s rich tapestry. Hopefully in years to come you’ll be able to tell your grandkids, (if you have any), about living through the great Coronavirus plague and how many toilet rolls you managed to accumulate and whether you are still using them.
steve WS
 
Steve, I agree and the social side of the 2 day drive is an integral part so running it without that element seems pointless. Although we can get a refund up to 24hr before our stay I think early cancellation will put people's minds at rest. Some may even feel they don't want to appear to be 'whimping out' by cancelling so we can remove that worry too.
I have spent many days of my free time putting this one together so it is particularly galling but it can be postponed and not necessarily abandoned. You may have seen elsewhere on here that I have already reserved the hotel places for the Autumn drive. We could simply shift the Spring drive to the Autumn instead but we don't need to make that decision right now.
I do have quite a few grandchildren. Many more than I have loo rolls at present....[:)]

 
Following the canvassing of opinion on this forum and Facebook, we have decided to either postpone or cancel all R15 events, with immediate effect, for a 6 week period to the beginning of May and review future events as we approach that time. There was overwhelming support for this from members, in particular as many are in the increased risk category.

Naturally, given the amount of work put into events and the pleasure they bring, this is a great disappointment to all of us. There are some which can be put on ice and not cancelled altogether.

I am currently busy contacting those venues affected and, in particular, where there has been a financial commitment.

I will send out a newsletter 'special' tomorrow with more specific details.

Stay safe

You read it here first.......[;)]

Alan and Keith
 
Newsletter dispatched today. Looks like we preempted the PM...[;)]

"Now is the time for everyone to stop non-essential contact with others and to stop all unnecessary travel," the prime minister says.

Thanks for your continued support and at least we can keep in touch electronically!
 

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