Last updated on April 18th, 2020 at 11:27 am
Calderdale FHS – Policies during the Coronavirus outbreak – Updated – 17th April 2020
1. Introduction.
The purpose of this document is to detail the policy adopted by Calderdale FHS during the Coronavirus (Covid19) outbreak, which has been agreed by the Society’s committee.
It covers the main objective & then the detail of activities affected.
It may be changed as time progresses, after agreement with the Chairman & any relevant committee members.
2. Main Objective.
The aim is to give the membership a clear statement on how Society activities will change during the outbreak, how long those changes will last, what provision is being made to alleviate any problems & how and when any detail will be updated.
The main principle is to ensure that what we do is in line with Government guidelines, as, to do otherwise, may put us at odds with other organisations trying to protect against the virus. We also have a responsibility to protect our volunteers, many of whom are over 70 years of age & also to respect their wishes on how they want to protect themselves.
The 6 areas under consideration are :-
– General Monthly Meetings.
– Annual General Meeting & Lunch.
– Committee Meetings.
– Research Room.
– West Yorkshire Archives.
– Calderdale Libraries.
The outside bodies associated with these are Calderdale Council, West Yorkshire Archive Service, Maurice Jagger Centre, the proposed venue for the AGM in April and the individual speakers booked for our General Meetings. Most of these have their own policies, which we ask them about periodically.
We will review all the policies below at least monthly, with a view to amending, scrapping or extending the conditions.
3. General Monthly Meetings.
The policy adopted by Maurice Jagger Centre has a bearing on these. They have closed for an indefinite period, but, given that the lockdown will last until at least early May, it seems unlikely that they will re-open before the end of May.
We have struggled over the last few months to increase the numbers attending these meetings, so, given members’ understandable reticence to attend gatherings, as well as the restrictions imposed by the government, attendances would be very small, even if we were to decide to go ahead.
It is likely that most of our members (over 70’s) have either been advised, or compelled, to selfisolate for a period up to 4 months (therefore into July). Of course, this may change, but we should continue to work, at present, to this date.
Consequently, the AGM, scheduled for April 23rd. is being conducted remotely & the meeting for May 28th has been cancelled. A decision on the meeting for June 25th will be made when our policy is next reviewed mid-May.
4. AGM & Annual Lunch.
In line with the policy in 3 above, the lunch has been cancelled & the AGM will be conducted remotely. All the necessary papers for this have been sent, either by E-Mail or post, to all members. All those members who have paid for their lunch have had their payments refunded.
5. Committee Meetings.
The next Committee meeting, due on April 14th will be cancelled. However, the Chairman or Secretary will circulate details of any urgent items that would have been discussed at the meeting & committee members will be invited to pass their comments to be considered before any relevant decisions are made.
The further date of June 9th (or 16th) will be reviewed at a monthly review mid-May. Whether or not it goes ahead will depend on the situation at the time.
6. Research Room.
This was due to be closed for 2 weeks in April anyway, for ceiling repairs to be carried out.
Given that most of our visitors there & just about all our volunteers are over 70 years of age, it seems likely that visitor numbers would have been sparse. We closed the facility on Thursday March 19th.
Given that the library is likely to remain closed until at least mid-May, the Research Room will not reopen before the end of May. A decision on further closure or a reopening date will be made at the mid-May review.
7. West Yorkshire Archives.
In line with all public buildings, the West Yorkshire Archives in Halifax closed in late March.
They, too, are unlikely to reopen before mid-May at the earliest. Any change in their policy during April & May will be notified on our website Home Page.
8. Libraries.
As stated in section 6 above, the libraries in Calderdale remain closed. As with the West
Yorkshire Archives, any change in policy will be notified on our website Home Page if/when it occurs.