As things slowly open up, and before they shut down again, I am planning on how to get us back into the workshop.
We have sufficient safety procedures in place to allow a very limited return to the workshop, and I would urge you to read this very carefully, and decide if you are comfortable with this, if you can comply with the requirements, and if you can trust the other members of the club to comply.
It is up to every one of us to look after ourselves, and our fellow members. This is an imprecise science, and I ask you all to go forward in a spirit of cooperation and not confrontation. The wearing of masks is, and always has been, a controversial point, and before we make comment about someone not wearing a mask please remember that several people are perfectly entitled to not wear a mask, so before we demand an reason for not wearing let’s assume that they have a legitimate exemption and just take a step back from them to give that extra ‘safe’ space. However feel free to shout “get yer big snout into the mask” if someone is wearing a mask but not covering their nose & mouth, partly to remind folks that if they are going to wear a mask to wear them properly, and partly to make me feel better because it is a bugbear of mine and it would make me feel less of a fascist.
An additional thing which I need to put in place before I open up is to put up a couple of posters, like the one replicated below, which records members attending for track and trace. Could you please set up your mobile phones, if you have one, so that when you come in you can ‘check in’, or you can do it before you come on your computer (or get your wife, husband, grandchild or gentleman’s gentleman to do it for you). The data gathered is deleted automatically after 21 days if not needed. You can also register in the book as we always did but this would require me to come into the workshop to get it if there is an infection and I would rather do everything remotely if possible.
Our first tentative opening would be Turning Tuesday and Turning Wednesday, and be limited to begin with to just 5 members each session. If we find that demand if high then we can open up on other evenings, or even mornings – but remember that this requires our committee members to be available and willing to come and open and lock up.
If you traditionally attended on Tuesday I would ask that you come just on the Tuesday, and likewise for Wednesday, at least until we see what demand is. If someone knows a way of ‘booking’ your place before you come, and letting you know if there are no spaces left, then let me know. This would avoid you turning up and finding out that we are full and you have to go home again.
To begin with email me if you want to come back on a Tuesday, Wednesday, or other time, and I can make a list/ allocation/ preference etc.
Let me make it clear that we are not going to open up, at any level, until after 24th August when the Scottish Government make their next stage announcement, but if we prepare now we can get back to the workshop more quickly and be confident we have covered all practical steps to do so safely.
I am sorry if this is all a bit cumbersome, but it is something which we need to do temporarily until things settle down and we develop a much more smooth and natural way of doing this. Ultimately we will return to something very similar to what we had before, and for some this might not be until next year, and I thank you for your patience and tolerance so far.