It has now been over three months since over 70 amazing volunteers came together to provide support to those in our Parish who may need assistance during the Covid crisis, and it is perhaps time to pay tribute to those volunteer ‘street champions’ who have helped our community in this difficult time.

A survey of our Street Champions found that they feel that High Legh is the best place to live at the moment. The whole community has been brought much closer together as a result of Covid 19 with these amazing volunteers helping to provide much needed support to those who are vulnerable, on their own, or isolating. 

Numerous requests for help have been received from picking up shopping and prescriptions, posting mail, dog walking and even just having a friendly voice to chat to. Street Champions are happy to do all they can to help others and we really appreciate them doing so.

It is also worth saying we are not out of the woods yet, as I fear that as restrictions are eased we may yet see a second wave of infections, and would encourage all to maintain precautions and heed the government advice.

A special mention to Parish Councillor Gail Coenen for taking the lead in setting up the High Legh Volunteers and Councillor John Tuck for the making of seventy badges for all the volunteers as well as a thank you to the rest of the ‘admin’ team working behind the scenes to support our champs!

To have had such a great response from members of the community is wonderfully encouraging and to the seventy Street Champions and admin team a massive thank you from High Legh Parish Council on behalf of all the parish.

The WhatsApp group, Facebook, web page and admin group have also been used for other help such as plumbers phone numbers,  finding a handy man, household appliance  faults, lost animals, organising virtual events, Easter egg hunt, virtual VE day celebrations, flute concert etc. All these uses have brought people together and I hope that in the future we can, as a community, develop this support and information network and encourage residents to join and share knowledge and help. It only takes a few mins to reply to a text and can be really helpful to people.

I would hope that when this crisis is over it bodes very well for the future, to work together to face further challenges and crisis, such as climate change, HS2, and more. 

When eventually we return to some sort of normality, I look forward to the volunteer group coming together and perhaps finding ways of working for a better future.

Thank you all, stay safe and keep well.

Nigel Hennerley

cheers

You may have seen the government announcement that from July 6th “Community Centres” can reopen, subject to certain conditions. These conditions have more recently been lifted significantly but there is a continuing ban on indoor “soft play”, singing, performances and parties involving people from more than 2 households. This means that we await further announcements to permit many of the activities for which people wish to book the Village Hall.

Helen Wright, our Hall Manager has been contacting our regular bookers and nearly all are very keen to return as soon as possible, although some have major problems about social distancing (for example, how can you play bridge when all players are 2 Metres apart?).

 VH exterior

HLCA is are making preparations to welcome people back as soon as possible. This includes:

  • Preparing a Risk Analysis to identify actions required to control the published risks of Covid 19 spreading to users of our Village Hall
  • Take actions to revise cleaning plans, order necessary equipment, install signage and communicate with Hall Bookers to make sure their risk analysis and actions conform to changing government guidelines and the preparations the HLCA is making.
  • Do maintenance activities – so the wooden main hall floor has been refurbished, and is looking very good. We also plan to arrange damp proofing and have made certain electrical changes.
  • Everyone who books the hall routinely takes responsibility for the activities of the people who they admit onto the premises. Our Hall Booking Conditions are being updated to take account of government regulations and advice on Covid 19. There will be changes in the way we need to act within the Hall for everybody to feel safe. However, we hope to make things as friendly and welcoming as possible. This horrible disease has changed many lives and caused much suffering. Until a vaccine or a treatment regime is developed, it will remain a major threat, particularly to the older members of our community. But, if we continue to help each other and focus on what we can do, we can all make High Legh one of the better places to live in this troubled world.

Do keep an eye on this website and What’s On where we plan to publish when groups are starting up again. We plan to open up gradually from September, depending upon what we are permitted to do within the regulations.

Do contact Helen on 07703 194052 if your group wants to do leisure activities indoors that are permitted by the Coronavirus regulations. We will give priority to returning regular hall users and to High Legh residents

Summer Cover

 

This is the Summer edition of 2020. To download a copy please click here.

Thank you to all the contributors - life has been quite active here during lockdown.  It is great to find out about what people have been and are doing. We also have information in this issue about plans and expectations of various groups as we work out how we can deal with the new realities and discover how to do what we can do.

Best wishes to all our advertisers - recent events have made us ever more aware of the importance of local services.  And finally thank you to Newsletter distributors who make it possible for residents to have a free copy delivered to their homes.  As someone said to me this morning, electronic copies are fine, but it is nice to have a printed copy that you can sit and read . 

We hope that the Autumn edition will go out in October - when, perhaps we can restore the diary in the centre pages - because maybe by then we will have activities to go out to and enjoy.  Advertisers if you would like to be in the autumn edition, charges are listed here as are details of how you can get in touch.

Jenny Pearce Editor 01925 756171