Monthly Archives: December 2020

Xmas Eve Carols!

It has been a challenging year, but let’s get together in a COVID-safe way on Christmas Eve for socially distanced carols from Dassett and Friends who provided the music for VE Day in May accompanied by pianists Jasper, Mia, Tess and Bella.

A few carollers will sing a small number of favourite carols and Christmas songs through the village from 4.30 pm on Christmas Eve. It would be great if you could come to your doorstep and join in to celebrate Christmas 2020!

The singers will be on the steps of St John the Baptist Church at 4.30 pm. At the grass triangle at Lower End at 4.45 pm, finally ending up in front of The Yew Tree at 5 pm.

Here is the online version of the carols: https://youtu.be/QJ4IKMCksF8

And here is the song sheet for you to sing along on your doorstep on Christmas Eve:

Socially Distanced Christmas Carols – Xmas Eve, 4.30 pm

It has been a challenging year, but let’s get together in a COVID-safe way on Christmas Eve for socially distanced carols from Dassett and Friends who provided the music for VE Day in May.

A few carollers will sing a small number of favourite carols and Christmas songs through the village from 4.30 pm on Christmas Eve. It would be great if you could come to your doorstep and join in to celebrate Christmas 2020!

The singers will be on the steps of St John the Baptist Church at 4.30 pm. At the grass triangle at Lower End at 4.45 pm, finally ending up in front of The Yew Tree at 5 pm.

A carol sheet and online music will be uploaded here soon!

Volunteers Wanted to Help with Mass Testing for COVID-19

Could you make a difference to your community during this difficult time?

Volunteers from across Warwickshire are needed to help support Warwickshire County Council’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic as part of a national testing programme.

Community testing sites (also known as mass testing sites) will be set-up across Warwickshire in the next few weeks with the first site opening in north Warwickshire very shortly.

Talking about the call to action, Cllr Heather Timms, Portfolio Holder for the Environment and Heritage & Culture said:  “Volunteers are an essential part of the work we are doing here in Warwickshire. The testing will play a vital role in keeping communities safe and will enhance our fight against Covid-19. By testing people who don’t have symptoms, we are hoping to catch those who are not aware that they have the virus to ensure that they don’t unwittingly spread it to other people - including friends, loved ones and work colleagues.

“If you’re great with people with a friendly and approachable manner and want to play your part in helping to keep communities safer, then this is the role for you.”

The pilot will use the fast turnaround lateral flow test kits, which can deliver results in around an hour. Lateral flow antigen tests are a new kind of technology that can be used to test a higher proportion of asymptomatic people, better enabling the Public Health team to identify and isolate more people who are at high likelihood of spreading virus and break the chains of transmission.

Volunteers are needed for front facing roles to support with the following:

  • Help people to register on arrival
  • Provide reassurance and a friendly face
  • Give out information and answer any questions
  • Help to manage the flow of people and guide them around sites, keeping everyone safe and ensuring the sites are well run

Volunteers will not be asked to get involved with the testing procedure itself, this will be undertaken by the staff on site.

The health and safety of all volunteers, staff and visitors will be of paramount importance.  COVID-19 safety measures and guidance will be applied at all times.  Appropriate PPE will be issued to volunteers.

If you would like to play your part in history and support this major initiative in the fight against COVID-19, whilst at the same time giving something back to your local community, then please email volroles@wcava.org.uk with your details and location.

Alternatively, the link for the application form for you to complete can be found here.

You can also call your local office on:

  • North Warwickshire Tel: 01827 718080
  • Nuneaton & Bedworth Tel: 024 7638 5765
  • Rugby Tel: 01788 574258
  • Stratford-on-Avon Tel: 07850 515185
  • Warwick District Tel: 01926 477512

For more information about Warwickshire County Council’s response to the pandemic and services available at this time visit www.warwickshire.gov.uk or call 01926 410410. To find out more about Warwickshire CAVA visit https://www.wcava.org.uk/

Covid-19 preventative behaviour and symptoms study

An invitation to help a COVID-19 research project from Dr Richard M Clarke, Research Fellow (RTO Covid-19 project), Primary care, Population Science and Medical Education , Faculty of Medicine , University of Southampton

I work on a National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) funded research project based at the University of Southampton. We’re looking to recruit members of the public to take part in a large-scale survey on the preventative behaviours people are taking to avoid catching COVID-19 and the long-term effect of those that have suffered from COVID-19 during the pandemic.

To make our findings as meaningful as possible, we are hoping to get a broad range of participants from across the UK.

Details about the project can be found here and we have social media posts that link to the survey set up for ease of sharing from our Facebook and Twitter accounts here and here. This is the direct link to the survey: https://pharma.unige.ch/limesurvey/index.php/326544?lang=en.

Warwickshire Police Advice on eScooters

Warwickshire Police and partners urge people not to buy e-scooters this Christmas

Partners in Warwickshire working together to improve road safety are urging the public not to buy e-scooters this Christmas because it’s currently against the law to ride a privately owned e-scooter in any public place in the UK.

Sergeant Shaun Bridle said “We understand that buying an e-scooter can be tempting, especially as you can get them from many popular retailers. However the law is clear.  You can buy one but it is illegal to use a privately owned e-scooter in any public space including roads, pavements, parks, town centres or canal towpaths for example. The only place a privately owned e-scooter can be used is on private land.”

This is because e-scooters are classified as Personal Light Electric Vehicles (PLEVs) so they are treated as motor vehicles and subject to the same legal requirements such as MOT, licensing, tax and insurance.

As e-scooters do not have number plates, signalling ability and don’t always have visible rear lights, they can’t be used legally on the roads.

Whilst some parts of the country are taking part in Government trials for e-scooter hire with a view to making them legal to use on the roads, Warwickshire is not currently part of the trials so e-scooters cannot be hired at this time.

Councillor Andy Crump, Portfolio Holder for Fire & Rescue and Community Safety at Warwickshire County Council said “We understand the public’s support for environmentally friendly modes of transport and want to work with our local communities to make sure the roads are safe for everyone. However, we are asking the public not to rush in to buying an e-scooter but to await the results of the UK trial.”

“In the meantime please do not ride an e-scooter in a public place”

Warwickshire Police have the powers to seize e-scooters and prosecute riders– please make sure you keep your e-scooter on private land so this doesn’t happen to you.

Officers will also be using Section 59 of the Police Reform Act to issue a warning to riders of e-scooters and educate them as to the legal requirements.  If a rider is under 16 years old then this advice will also be given to the parents.

 

Volunteer drivers & telephone operators needed for COVID vaccination programme

VASA Community Transport  is expecting to be very busy in January, February and March once the Covid-19 vaccination program gets going locally, helping to transport vulnerable people to and from their vaccination appointments. In order to be able to do this – we need to recruit many more volunteers – in the short term – to help us. Both volunteer drivers and volunteers to help take bookings for transport over the telephone.

We Need You!

We need volunteers to help get local patients to receive the Coronavirus vaccination.

Have you got some spare time during the day?

We expect to be very busy in January, February, and March once the vaccination programme begins to roll out. We are going to need many more:

Volunteer drivers: If you have a clean driving license and would like to help people in your community who would otherwise struggle to get to their vaccination appointment and home again, please get in touch. 45p mileage costs paid.

Telephone operators: Have you got your own computer, decent admin skills and like talking on the telephone? We need plenty of people to help take transport bookings to vaccination appointments. If you could spare one or two mornings or afternoons a week we would love to hear from you? Volunteering from home with training & support.

To help, please call 01789 262889 or email recruitment@vasa.org.uk

Community News Roundup

Please see below a range of support on offer from our local community:

Free Creative Arts Offer for the Extremely Clinically Vulnerable

Creative Journaling packs are ready to go (see picture) so please do get in touch and contact info@escapearts.org.uk to request packs.

Fuel Poverty

More than 1 in 10 households can’t afford to pay their fuel bills this winter. Are you or someone you know struggling to keep warm and healthy at home? We can help. Contact us https://actonenergy.org.uk/contact-us/ or call free 0800 9882881 #FuelPovertyAwarenessDay #WarmeSafeHomes