What the CA has been doing about Coronavirus

[<<] [>>] by Ian Vincent
25th March 2020 (CqE Official News)

This news item summarises what the CA has been doing in response to the outbreak of Coronavirus, to support its members: individuals, clubs and federations, during this unprecedented event.

As soon as the scale of the rapidly developing situation became apparent, it set up a task force to respond to it, which is continuing to review the situation on an on-going basis. The task force consists of:

Roger Staples (Chairman Executive Board)
Jonathan Isaacs (Chairman of Council)
Ian Vincent (Hon Secretary)
Ian Burridge (Incoming Hon Treasurer)
Mark Suter (CA Manager)

The CA Council will be meeting (by teleconference) on Saturday, 28^th March, to review its decisions and plan more strategically for the next few months and beyond.

A news item on the CA website has been updated with its advice as official guidelines have changed. Please follow that link to see the current recommendations.

National Croquet Week has been cancelled for the time being, with the option to re-instate it later in the season if that becomes possible.

The likely financial impact of the outbreak on clubs is being considered and it has already introduced an Emergency Assistance Scheme for Clubs and a Tournament Entry Fee Donation scheme in an attempt to mitigate it. The CA Tournament Entry System has been swiftly upgraded by Dave Kibble to better handle tournament cancellations, mass withdrawals and refunds.

Remote access to the office has been established to enable staff to work from home.

More generally, it is aware that clubs and their members will be affected in other ways. Please keep in touch with each other and to look out for your more vulnerable members. For some people, social media and teleconferencing facilities are helpful in maintaining communications and also to conduct business where necessary. A number of groups within the CA have been using the Zoom teleconferencing service. They offer free accounts that enable people to host a meeting of up to 100 participants for up to 40 minutes and have one-to-one calls of unlimited duration.

Several clubs raised the issue of whether lawn maintenance could be considered an essential occupation and guidance has been obtained from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, to say that it is, whether undertaken by contractors or volunteers. The same news item also contains information about grants from Sports Englands to community sports clubs in difficulty.

We trust you stay safe and look forward to being able to start playing again when that becomes possible.

Jonathan Isaacs

Chairman of Council