VIRTuAl WINTER FESTIVAl

Friday 27th November, 6.00 p.m. – 8.30 p.m.

As our community struggles to come to terms with the affects of the COVID 19 Pandemic and the restrictions that come with it, the Keynsham Town Council Winter Festival Planning Committee felt strongly that our annual Christmas Light switch on and Festive activities should go on and bring an evening of cheer to you all. In the past few months, we have been pulling together ideas on how to do this in a socially distanced and safe way in order to avoid spreading the virus across our town. The best solution that we came up with was to present the whole event by YouTube in the form of live streamed, part prerecorded festival of activities that you and your family can view from the comfort of your own home. You can set yourself up ready for the event by going into the holding page of the event at https://youtu.be/hpcZUyON_Q8 The full programme is not fully finalised but here is a taster: The event will commence at 6.00 p.m. with a welcome and the switching on of the Christmas Tree lights by the winner of this year’s colouring competition (socially distanced of course) and yes, we will be having the usual Christmas lights throughout the High Street/Temple Street. The cameras will then take us into St John’s Church for a carol by St John’s Junior Choir followed by the ringing of the church bells (arranged magically, so there will be no social distancing issues).

Back outside the church, some special visitors will be on hand to entertain your little ones. This will include a special greeting from Father Christmas.

theatrical performances from our local schools, a brass band performance, a puppet nativity show, a Christmas song from a local choir and acoustic performance by a local artist.

Throughout the evening, our Dickensian narrator, together with his assistant, will guide us through the town visiting the windows of local shops decorated following a Christmas Carol theme. As the camera gives us visual shots of the store’s wonderful displays, you will hear excerpts from the winning story chosen from our story writing competition. The children of our community have been asked to write a story that involves a Christmas song. This can be on the title of the song, a line from a song or even the whole song! If your child would like to enter and has not received entry information from their school (KS2 and KS3) then just drop us an email to admin@ keynsham-tc.gov.uk and we will get the details to you. A further visit into the Church will give us the opportunity to listen to the adult section of St John’s Choir.

At 8.30 p.m. our few special guests will come together for a final farewell.

Please can we ask you and your family to stay at home on this evening and protect our community by not spreading the virus. As a thank you, encourage your children to listen out for the ringing of a bell outside your home ... you never know there could be a special surprise in store!

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BOOKING SYSTEM AND LITTER AT

MANOR ROAD PLAYING FIELDS

hilst it is encouraging to see more people and organisations wishing to use Manor W Road during the pandemic, unfortunately the increased use has brought with it more complaints from local residents and dog walkers about the amount of litter being left behind. Despite ensuring bins are available at weekends for organisational users and the groundsmen making Manor Road their first stop early on Monday mornings, it appears that a considerable amount of litter is accumulating at weekends. This is spoiling the enjoyment of other users and putting the many dogs that use Manor Road at risk of swallowing foreign objects that then require veterinary attention. This is not acceptable, and the Town Council has been asked to consider introducing further deterrents for litter louts.

From now on all organisational and group activities will need to be booked in advance which already occurs with the Football teams/clubs who book their pitches for the season with the Town Council. Anyone turning up to use the pitches (for football or any other activity) without booking is creating additional wear and tear (especially in winter months) and possibly depriving a team of a pitch which they have prebooked and paid for. Currently the Town Council marks out four full-sized pitches for the football teams and will be creating two further marked areas for other organisational activities. Whether you are running a bootcamp, children’s activities or a socially-distanced business meeting, all group and organisational activities at Manor Rd now require to be pre-booked through the Town Council in order to be covered by the Town Council’s public liability insurance and ensure an appropriate space is available.

At the time of going to press, the Town Council is scheduled to discuss the introduction and revision of current charges to reflect FIRSTLY, the fact that the Pavilion changing rooms currently have to remain closed owing to COVID but SECONDLY the current use of the playing fields by other groups charging their own fees to participants. We are also considering charging a non-refundable deposit should litter be left behind.

The Town Council wants to actively encourage use of Manor Road but not at the expense of other users.

Therefore please will all users of Manor Road give careful consideration to their own (and, if applicable all participants in their group) activities and ensure the playing fields are left clean for other people coming after them to also enjoy.

KEYNSHAM FOODBANK

eynsham Food Bank has had a very busy first half of the current fiscal year. During the K 2019/20 fiscal year they supported 1292 clients whereas in the first six months of this fiscal year they have supported in excess 1300 people (as of October 4th).

Trussell Trust, the parent charity compared activity in April 2019 with April 2020 throughout the country. The average increase in the South West region was 124% but the Keynsham Food Bank were shown to have had a 551% increase in their work.

Project Manager, Alan Hale, told us: “I am very proud of the volunteers that I work with, they have been magnificent. Despite Covid they have been flexible when we closed our doors and began a delivery service, they changed working practices in a heartbeat and I must acknowledge the sterling work of Keynsham and District Dial-a-Ride who did our deliveries.”

The food bank is now open to callers who must have a voucher and that is likely to be an e-voucher in most cases.

More recently the food bank warehouse has moved into a new unit in Marksbury and the warehouse team are enjoying both natural daylight and fresh air whilst they work, something they

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lacked at their last storage facility. The food bank is bracing itself for a further significant increase in demand for support from the anticipated increase in redundancies. The food bank has drop boxes for food donations in Tesco, Waitrose, Saltford Hall, Chew Magna Co-op and the Pensford Post Office. Current needs are always written on the white boards above the boxes.

Anyone wishing to donate financial support to the food bank can do so by bank transfer to Sort Code 60-12-11, Acc’ No’ 26641860. General enquiries can be made to 0117 9837923.

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