Meetings

Hello and welcome back to our world! Our website is now being updated with the new classes and activities we are offering coming out of the lockdowns of the last 12 months! We expect most of our groups and classes to start again from mid-June onwards (assuming no changes with the roadmap out of lockdown).  Most of our tutors will been working through the summer holiday this year, rather than stopping for a break the way we normally do. Lots of you are keen to come back and not have to stop within a short time and then wait again until September, so we are encouraged this support. Until September we will still be encouraging Covid safe activity though – facemasks, hand sanitiser  and social distancing with some number restrictions on how many in a class or group. Until everyone has been vaccinated twice, we are following the advice not to encourage Covid to come back!  Even after that, we will be trying to keep everyone safe and will be carrying out safe practises. Great changes under foot! During the lockdown, we haven’t been sitting on our laurels.. Our rear garden has been re-laid out with new (flat!) turf with some little jobs still to do. So, it should be COVID  friendly to anyone who wants use an outside space – we just need the weather to warm up a bit more! With new hanging baskets, bird boxes and  a hedgehog hotel in place, new lighting is going to be […]

As we go back into lockdown, the Centre will remain open only to essential permitted health services. However, the office is staffed (although at reduced days) to deal with any telephone and email enquiries you may have. The BBCA Annual General Meeting 2019-20 will be held via Zoom on Tuesday 26th January at 7.30pm – full details on how to attend will follow soon. We wish you a happy new year!

Nearly on the other side… We hope that you are all OK and have survived the break without too many problems. There lots of places to go for help – Braintree District Council (https://www.braintree.gov.uk), Essex Map (https://www.essexmap.co.uk) etc. if you need it. The government have suggested that leisure organisations, such as Braintree Community Centre, can reopen from 1st July 2020. As the Management Committee of the Centre, we shall be taking a cautious approach to reopening from that date. Our staff have all been on furlough, so if you have been trying to contact us, please bear with us as we start to get going again. We are planning and installing various measures to ensure that we can be Covid-safe.   Groups : Starting back We are not expecting every group to start back straight away – indeed, we do not want the Centre to get very busy too quickly, whilst we get used to having social distancing measures in place here, to ensure maximum safety. Covid-safe may mean that in order to avoid very busy periods developing, we will be looking at staggered starts to classes and even changing days, in order to avoid having lots of people moving around at the same time. Equally, we will be expecting people to arrive on time for their meetings – we will be discouraging people being in the Centre waiting for start times. Chairs may be made available in the rear garden where necessary. We will be asking for your support […]

We’re taking gradual steps towards being able to reopen – safety comes first though, so we’ll be putting in place all the relevant precautions and following the guidelines. We know we won’t be back to normal for a while yet, but we’re looking forward to seeing you all again when we can safely do so. For now, stay safe and take care! ????