Dear All,

We will be meeting at the field this week from 19:30 – 21:30 and doing backwards cooking.

Please bring your own Torch (if you have one), a Mask and a personal bottle of Hand Sanitiser.
Please go to the toilet before leaving home as we will NOT have toilet facilities available for general use.

Neal will be taking point on this evening session as I am not available tonight.

Please read the risk assessment in full but these are the basics:

• If you or anyone in your family has any of the following symptoms please DO NOT ATTEND:
  – a high temperature – this means you feel hot to touch on your chest or back (you do not need to measure your temperature)
  – a new, continuous cough – this means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours (if you usually have a cough, it may be worse than usual)
  – a loss or change to your sense of smell or taste – this means you’ve noticed you cannot smell or taste anything, or things smell or taste different to normal
• If you or anyone in your family is currently isolating or has been told to isolate by test and trace DO NOT ATTEND
• As all in attendance will be over 11 years of age we will be practicing social distancing (2m).
• All in attendance should arrive wearing a face mask, and have one available for use e.g. in an emergency situation.

Many Thanks

Joe Fletcher
Explorer Scout Leader | Fiery Dragons ESU

It is recognised that the explorers (14 to 18 years old), and our leaders who are aged between 22 and 60 are at risk. The older leaders being at higher risk. Any young people or leaders who have a condition that would make them more susceptible to a more severe COVID-19 infection, those people who would have been shielding, are also at a higher risk from COVID-19.

Any person with an active COVID infection or who is in isolation will not be allowed to attend the session. In the information about the session this will be made clear and people with COVID or isolation will be told not to attend.

Should a person during the event be suffering symptoms like COVID they will be immediately isolated. The session will be stopped and ended with everyone being sent home. Leaders will wear Level 2 PPE (masks, gloves and apron) whilst in the vicinity and attending to the person with COVID. Arrangements
for the person to be transported home by parents / guardians will be made. Notification of the incident will be made to scouting senior personnel (district commissioner).

As all the Explorers, assistants and leaders are over 14 years of age they will all socially distance at all times. This is 2m apart from each other at all times. Other measures to be used are the request that all explorers arrive at the venue wearing a mask and on arrival use hand sanitiser which will be left in an accessible location for all to use.

The maximum number of people that will attend a meeting will be 30. We do not expect this number to be exceeded but on the off chance it is we will be sending people home. With explorers this is not a risk as many of them walk on their own to explorers.

The attendees at the session will be recorded on OSM for the use of track and trace should it be required.

Once everyone arrives and social distancing is established it will be possible for those that wish to remove their masks. Should social distancing be seen to be breaking down then the session will be stopped and social distancing re-established.

During activities leaders will wear masks and regularly hand sanitise just to provide extra protection.

The activities that we intend carrying out are

• Fire Lighting – This will be carried out on an individual basis by explorers either on the hard standing or in the woods. It will be expected that the explorers light their own fires using kindling and matches provided. These supplies will be placed on the ground and collected individually by the explorers.
• Map work finding locations – This activity will be a local map reading exercise around the field. Each explorer will be provided with a map and asked to find a number of stations around the field. The number and location of the stations will ensure that the explorers remain socially distanced
• Football rounders – This will be a game of rounders but the ball will be kicked instead of thrown or hit with a bat. All fielding will be done by kicking the ball.
• Photographs – This will be an activity where mobile phone photographs are taken and guidance will be given on taking better photographs. This will be done on an individual basis by the explorers with the images being taken and then sent to others for examination and appreciation.

Arrival and pick up

The explorers normally arrive from a number of locations. They will be asked to arrive and meet on the field by the side of Livsey Hall. This is an extremely large area so social distancing is easy to achieve. The Field will have markers at 2m (2 large paces) centres for the initial meeting to ensure social distancing.

During the initial greeting the Leaders will be wearing masks to ensure that they are protected from any explorers or parents that inadvertently break the 2m social distancing rule.

Maintaining social distancing during activities

Social distancing will be monitored at all times by a leader. Should it break down the activity will be stopped and social distancing restored. The activity may need amendment to ensure that social distancing is maintained.

Hygiene to prevent infection spread between people.

To maintain personal hygiene attendees will hand sanitise on arrival and departure from the meeting.
Hand sanitising will also be carried out following the touching of any surfaces or items that may have
been touched by someone else.

Toilets

It is not intended to use the toilets. Attendees will be informed of this prior to the meeting.

There are toilets available in Livsey Hall for use in an emergency. These will be prepared before the event by cleaning down all surfaces, door handles and the toilets with disinfectant / bleach. The person carrying out this cleaning will use a face mask (air borne droplets), visor (splashes), gloves (hand hygiene) and an apron (clothing protection). The person will discard and bag the PPE after use
and hand sanitise.

Should the toilets be used then the person using the toilet will be asked to clean down the area after use. Hygiene wipes will be used for this. The person will use hand sanitiser after finishing in the toilet.
If the toilets have been used they will be recleaned at the end of the session using the same procedure as the initial cleaning.
Discarded PPE will be double bagged and disposed of in domestic waste.

Hygiene of activity equipment.

The aim will be to use no or absolutely the minimum equipment for activities. Ideally any equipment used will be brought individually by the young person to the session, used by themselves and then taken home.
Prior to dispensing any activity equipment the person handling the equipment will hand sanitise.
Where possible the equipment will be sanitised prior to use. This will involve the wiping down of the equipment with a disinfectant wipe.
It is possible for explorers to do this cleaning themselves. Disinfectant wipes will be provided for this purpose.
Following an activity equipment will be wiped down with disinfectant wipes or where appropriate washed. Equipment that cannot be washed will be quarantined for 72hrs before reuse.

Use of Outdoor space

The explorers and leaders are familiar with the location and have used it many times in the past. This eliminates any risk due to unfamiliar places.
The space is used by members of the public, but interaction in the past has been minimal and it is easy to social distance from other people using the field.
Should a dog run up to us, any person who touches the dog will hand sanitise.
There are two ‘hard’ surfaces in the field which are a bench and a steel gate. Everyone will be asked to not touch these objects and should they touch these items they will be asked to hand sanitise.

Access to PPE in essential situations

It is proposed that each leader will have two masks (FFP2), gloves and aprons. A couple of visors will also be available. These will be used by any leader or person should they need to breach the 2m social distancing. This may be required should first aid need to be administered.

Should first aid be required then, apart from injuries that make it impossible, the recipient of the first aid will be asked to wear a face mask during the treatment. It is anticipated that the first aider will be wearing level 2 PPE (mask, a pair of gloves and an apron).

Following use all the discarded PPE will be double bagged and disposed of in domestic waste.

Hi Guys,

We have had confirmation in the last few minutes that explorers will be suspended for the moment. Gilwell has said that all scout activities should be suspended.

There is more information from the chief commissioner that I will pass onto you as soon as I have had a chance to digest it.

It is a real shame that we have had to suspend things but if it protects our loved ones and our older relatives, a suspension of Explorers for a short while is a small price to pay.

I know you will all be disappointed and I will be speaking to Joe to see if we can arrange a way where all meet up on line on Friday at 7:30.

All other scouting events are suspended, including Gilwell 24 and I am certain the All Wales Scout Camp. I know that if you ask about other events and meetings at the moment you will get the reply that they are all suspended. Gilwell are currently very busy sorting out a lot of issues so please do not contact them.

You may have paid monies for events, please give the event organisers time to sort things out regarding refunds, they too will have only just heard the news.

Please let me and Joe have a talk with our district about what we should do about our subscriptions. I think that we will push to have them suspended whilst Explorers are suspended.

My own opinion is that explorers is likely to be suspended until either of the two May bank holidays, I suspect the latter one, which may mean that our first meeting back may be in the first week of June. Of course we may be asked to extend or reduce this period. I will be posting updates weekly on what I know. I will be as keen as you to get explorers going again.

Remember whilst our physical meetings are suspended, we still all remain scouts, and scouts will be resuming once this episode is over.

Neal