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May 2021 May 2021

BERE REGIS AND THE PANDEMIC APRIL VILLAGE HALL
2020 TO APRIL 2021
Reopening of the village Hall for Public

Hire
As we pass the anniversary of the first lockdown of the COVID 19 pandemic, it is
perhaps the right time to look back and reflect on how our community reacted If all goes to plan we will be looking at opening the
st
and rose to the challenge this disease created. village Hall on Monday 21 June there will still be very VILLAGE
strict Covid Safe Procedures, including cleaning hand
As in most other communities, we sanitizing etc the full details are yet to be published. HALL
should perhaps firstly recognise the
enormous number of unsung, and If you are interested in hiring the hall phone 01929 471528
unnoticed acts of kindness carried More updates will be in this magazine over the next few months.
out for relatives and by friends and
neighbours to help those who were
on their own or ‘shielding’ from the
earliest days of the pandemic. Then Defibrillators in Bere Regis All of these are Public Access
there were the innumerable acts of Drax Arms West Street
selflessness by those who live in our
midst who are ‘key workers’. Let us Visible from street on front wall
remember the delivery drivers, our posties, the shop workers, the doctors, nurses
and paramedics, the teachers and teaching assistants, the care workers, our
priests and pastors and many others, who carried on doing their jobs in the most The Village Hall North Street
difficult, and sometimes dangerous, of circumstances. We will recognise some of
these people when we present our Certificates of Appreciation in due course. Visible from Street on front wall
We should also recognise that this past year has been an appallingly difficult time
for those who are on their own, or who have medical conditions that made them
vulnerable, or who perhaps suffer from mental issues that the pandemic can only The Sports Club end of North Street
have exacerbated. On Wall of the larger white building near entrance (not the old barn building)

Our young people, too, have had an incredibly difficult year with friendships -------------------------------------------------------------------
interrupted and schooling or education curtailed. Our school (and parents) had
to react quickly to the need for distance learning and the delivery of materials for There is a defibrillator at the Doctors Surgery Manor Farm Road for use by them it
home schooling. would only be available when the surgery was open.
The response of our community has, as in so many other similar communities,
been magnificent. Here are some of the highlights that we should perhaps put on Monday -Friday 8.30- 6.30 Weds 8.30 -4pm
record, before they are forgotten.
There is also a defibrillator at the school that would only be available when the
On Friday, 13 March 2020 the situation was looking sufficiently serious that the school is open.
th
Parish Council convened a meeting that brought together representatives of the
School, Pop In Place, WI, the Church, the Surgery, Scouts and the Sports Club to Alison Bennett
discuss and agree a community wide response. Out of that meeting emerged
BereConnect and the posters which were distributed to all households with
emergency contact numbers and advice, the food bank and much else.

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