Wakefield 2021

[enginelane]

A venue and date has been secured for a Wakefield Railway Modellers‘ Society Exhibition in 2021.

 

Subject to the Covid situation and regulations in place the Society intends to hold a show at 

 

Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Wakefield  on Saturday 4 th September 10.00  am to 5 pm and Sunday 5 th September 10.00 am to 4 pm.

 

As with other shows being announced the make up of the planned exhibition will be different from previous years taking into account the local covid situation and the procedures that the venue require the Society to put in place. 
 

Announcements regarding layouts and trade will be posted as they are confirmed. updates will also be posted on the Society‘s website 
 

 

[enginelane]

Sadly the extension to the lockdown means members cannot return to the clubrooms and prepare for the planned exhibition as planned. This coupled with the uncertainty of what social distancing measures may be in place at the time of the exhibition has meant the Club has cancelled the show 4 th and 5 th September.

 

[Mike Bellamy]

Sorry to hear that - I note you say you haven't opened the Club yet and wonder if that is due to the 'rule of six' and other restrictions. I posted the extract below a few weeks ago and repeat it here in case it helps your situation.

 

 

as well as being involved with the Mickleover (Derby) Club, I am also Chairman of the local Community Centre. Derby City Council have told the Centre to follow the guidelines issued by ACRE (Action with Communities in Rural England) as they produce a lot of information for Village Halls which are of course the same as Community Centres.

 

In their guidance, it says that indoor activities are still covered by 'The Rule of Six' but that there can be any number of groups of six in the building provided that they are distanced from each other and there are no interactions between the groups. So my understanding of this is that if you have enough space in your clubrooms, you could have six members on each layout as long as they are nowhere near any other groups.

 

At the Mickleover club we have limited space and the four layouts (N OO OO O) are all very close and so we have decided to have a maximum of four on each layout, and to only have two layouts operating each night so that the groups are a good distance apart. There is also a night time supervisor responsible for the keys, checking they stay apart and ensuring that all surfaces etc are wiped clean ready for the next open night (Tues & Fri).

 

The ACRE guidance can be found on this link - 50 pages (!!) but see page 6 for example. There are also useful risk assessments etc that you may find helpful as well

 

Click Here for Link to ACRE Guidance pages

 

Quote

Different “rule of 6” groups should be separated by 2m so that social distancing is maintained between them and they do not mix or mingle. People in groups of one, i.e., individuals not in a group, may need to be socially distanced from other groups. 

 

 

[Bagpuss]

Thanks Mike. That's very interesting.

 

We opened the Wakefield clubrooms last month. Given the restrictions of our premises, we've chosen to limit attendance to 6 members in the building.

 

The society has always had a strong social side with many members just wanting to chat. In the current circumstances, this isn't easy so many have chosen not to attend so far, leaving just a few to restart work on the layouts in the clubrooms. 

 

We're looking forward to being able to meet more normally and catch up with friends we haven't seen since March last year.

[Mike Bellamy]

I know what you mean Martin - we would regularly have a dozen in the Library just chatting all evening but because of the space in there we are now limited to two individuals.

 

We had set up a working group who were studying all the Govt, NHS and scientific advice and trying to work out how we could safely reopen - this was before the vaccination programme had started. You may recall that there was a lot of talk about virus transmission by contact with contaminated surfaces and they couldn't see a way to keep the fabric surfaces of the sofas and chairs clean. In any case the chairs which had been donated many years ago were very old, some were uncomfortable and in others the springs had gone so your backside was almost on the floor. As a result we decided to get rid of them all and paid a 'man and van' to dispose of them all.

 

That actually caused a bit of controversy resulting in a letter to the committee from a group of members who felt the old chairs were good enough and we had no right to throw them away. 'Sofagate' as it became known resulted in the whole committee standing down at the AGM to see if anyone else thought they could do better as by now we were all a bit more than just fed up. In the end there was just one name put forward and he was elected to join the committee. New wipe clean comfy chairs are now available and as we get closer to allowing more into the library area, further chairs will be purchased which was always the intention. 

 

Good luck with your future plans.

 

 

[ELTEL]

At Stafford we have adapted the rules so as to have a maximum of twelve members at any time in the clubroom.

 

A maximum of six members working on the ground floor and maximum of six members working on the mezzanine floor.

 

We also have the large loading doors open to circulate plenty of fresh air.

 

All members have to book a time slot and the number of members in the group, this has worked very well since the rule of six was introduced.

 

All booked members book in on arrival and have there  temperature checked.

 

A log exists of every one who has been in the clubroom by day, date and time since March 2020 for Track & Trace purposes

 

Likewise the seating area/library/refreshment areas are out of bounds for the time being.

 

Hopefully we will be able to open so as the social side and the running of trains on the club layouts can return after absence of some 16months.

Terry 

Stafford Railway Circle