Notices

There was a meeting of PCC members who had access to "Zoom".  The main topic discussed was the government's announcement about the re opening of churches for private prayer.  There are many things to consider, especially health and safety under the current conditions.  The set up of the church, the frequency and level of cleaning between visitors, the volunteers required and their availability were all factors discussed. 

The government made the announcement before the church had time to consider the safety of its members and any visitors that might wish to come and pray.  When it was announced, unfortunately I had pulled a muscle in my back and was barely able to walk, much less do the necessary moving of furniture to facilitate social distancing and allow for the use of  more easily cleanable seating.  Our Church Wardens are both in categories which mean that they would not be allowed to help.  (Please see the notes in the documents that I will ask David Green to put on the blog as links later today.)

Insurance cover, and the permission of the Church of England, relies on our doing a thorough risk assessment before opening.  Churches did not have opportunity to do this prior to the given dates for opening.  I am in the process of doing a risk assessment but at the meeting of the PCC members with access to zoom, it was decided that, certainly at present, it would not be safe for St John the Baptist to open for private prayer.  I will put a notice on the blog as soon as the risk assessment is complete and I have discussed it with Church Wardens and PCC members. 

One big issue was that of people in the "clinically vulnerable" group, which includes those over 70, regardless of their general health or lack of underlying health conditions.  You will see, after wading through the huge amounts of information given (which changes so quickly from day to day) that the latest information is that people in this category should be "strongly discouraged" from attending for prayer as they should stay at home as much as possible, however, the latest information is that while they should be strongly discouraged, if they do come, they should have a separate time from anyone else.  It remains against the current guidelines (and insurance, certainly with EIG, I will check with Trinitas) for anyone over 70 to help as a steward or a cleaner.  A notice will be put onto our facebook page to ask for younger volunteers so that we might, at a later date, be able to open, should the risk assessment allow it.

Please do put a comment on this blog post if anything is unclear and I will check regularly and try to answer as best as I am able, with the latest updated information from the government, the NHS, the Church of England and the Diocese.