LOCAL venues and groups have had to reschedule plans and events following the government’s delay in the planned lifting of pandemic restrictions from June 21st.
The Prime Minister announced on Monday 14th June that current restrictions will continue until at least July 19th, when the government will next review its recovery roadmap.
Lynette Hobbs from The Rising Sun told White Horse News, “We had events booked for early July which will now have to be moved – and we don’t even know if they can be held on or after July 19th as nothing is definite.
“We had a charity fundraiser that was already rescheduled from last year that we will have to move – it’s really hard as we had live music and a marquee booked for that. We don’t know yet how far forward we have to move things.”
Lynette said, “It’s the planning of it all – staff need their holidays but they can’t take them if we don’t know when we will need them.
“Apart from that everything is good, we’re lucky we’ve got inside and outside space to cater for everyone.
“Ordering the food and drink for events is not a problem because we can order that the week before – but at the moment suppliers are also having issues because of things like the bird flu in Europe, so for example, we don’t know if we’d be able to get a certain food.”
Theresa Mead from White Horse Country Park said the government’s lifting of the wedding guests number from 30 to 60 meant the park would have to pay more staff to work at two weddings they have booked.
“In that way it’s a bit of a problem because it’s going to cost us more to pay the staff and now more guests are allowed we will have to put more tables out etc, So we will be losing money but it is what it is!”
Theresa added that the park’s large grounds meant discos could be held outside for the evening receptions.
Bob Musker from the Horse and Groom said, “We used to have live music on Sunday afternoons but when all this started in 2020 we told the musicians we’d put that on hold until everything is safe – that’s the important thing.
“We will continue our garden service as we have been doing and we’ve taken on four extra staff, so it’s good news about the weddings because we can still do the wedding breakfasts and have the extra staff to cater for it. We can’t do discos because you can’t dance while social distancing apparently.”
Sue Ezra, who runs the White Horse Day Centre at Grassacres Hall, said, “The news is disappointing.
“The Leg Club run by the White Horse Health Centre was due to start back this week – that has been put back to September. And the restrictions also means that we can’t run the day centre – so that’s two of the biggest incomes for the hall we’ve lost.
“But we are still keeping the place clean, so the minute we can open up, we’ll be ready to go! We’re going to keep plodding on.”
Before Covid struck The Golden Oldies Charity provided regular singing sessions for older people once a month at Abbeyfield House in Bratton Road, but since March 2020 sessions have been held online (GoldiesLive sessions take place twice weekly – for details go to https://www. goldieslive.com).
The charity had been awaiting the June 21st announcement in the hope they could put restarting plans in place.
Founder, Grenville Jones said, “Goldies has been waiting for an announcement and we have been planning for a long time in the hope that we could restart sessions across England and Wales in early September 2021.
“Goldies is all about social singing, not choirs! Across England and Wales many hundreds of older people met in church halls, libraries and community rooms and we certainly hope that one day in the future we will be able to start those sessions again. Meanwhile the GoldiesLive sessions continue and reach out to people with ‘sofa songs’.”
Grenville continued, “Everyone involved with choirs and singing across the UK, and indeed the world, has been desperate to get back to live singing again. However, we all fully appreciated that this is something that cannot be rushed and that people’s health and safety has to come first.
“The restrictions on amateur singing indoors have affected many and it is my view that some choirs are pushing the boundaries unnecessarily. We must wait until the day comes when we can safely return again to daytime singing indoors – both in rehearsals and to plan concerts.
“When will this be? At this present moment in time we have no idea other than to hope that July 19th might bring some positive news in the roadmap for singing ahead.”
Local resident and musician Leander Morales urged people to stay strong, saying, “A predictably disappointing announcement. The hope, the excitement, the preparations, the build-up and all that comes with it.
“Thoughts to all those affected… whether it’s related to mental health, being on the edge of financial collapse or now having to spend weeks re-scheduling everything again. My thoughts are with you all.”
