Our children learning to read at Crockerne C of E Infants School would recognize and understand these three simple words – Stay At Home – so we certainly cannot misread or misunderstand them. The time has now come for all of us, not just some or most of us, to make a binding individual commitment to do just that – Stay At Home.

Stay At Home is the major instruction of our government which has declared the Coronavirus CV19 a National Emergency and it is one with which our Parish Council totally agrees. It is a chance for us to show our unity and belief in our village by all behaving in the same way. If a single individual decides that it is acceptable to disregard the instruction we must all challenge or call out such defiantly anti-social, selfish and irresponsible behaviour.

By contrast responsible behaviour starts when we have to go shopping once or twice a week but we must keep our distance from others, including shop staff, and pay by card if possible. Once daily exercise is a great tonic for us all but we must avoid narrow routes which make passing others dangerous. And, of course, thorough hand washing when we get home is essential.

We are all united in our praise of The Heywood Practice, our local pharmacy, Cohens and our health care staff who are working incessantly on our behalf to ensure our protection and safety. So one “I cannot do any harm if I meet my friends”, or one “ I’ll only pop in for a few seconds,” will make the work of our surgery, our pharmacy and our care staff – our front line – even more difficult than it is now. In fact we would be hurting the very people upon whom the most vulnerable in our village depend.

The world’s scientific and medical advice has agreed that only united approaches against the virus will have a chance of slowing it, resisting it and recovering from it. Any lack of unity amongst us now will make our village more vulnerable than it already is, hastening the time when we become overwhelmed and increasing the number of people we will be burying. So, however you look at it, our Parish Council believes all of us have only one choice –

STAY AT HOME!

Paul Kent

Chair on behalf of The Parish Council. 25/03/20

As a consequence of the Coronavirus outbreak, all future Parish Council meetings normally held at the Resource Centre will be postponed indefinitely. The Annual Parish Meeting at the Community Centre, planned for April will also be suspended. It is our intention to meet remotely until further notice.

The Parish Council has agreed to the following actions with immediate effect;

• To make support for Coronavirus related matters the first priority of the contingency fund (£8,000) from the Parish Council budget 2020/21.
• To use the contingency fund to support the work of existing groups in the village which are expected to need additional finance or extra logistical support to meet increased needs.
• The groups we envisage requiring support would be: the Food Bank, the Churches’ and Salvation Army groups, the Lunchtime Meals group, Gordano Cars, Children’s Centre groups and the Library.
• To encourage villagers to suggest other groups which might benefit from help.
• To liaise with Cohens Pharmacy and Heywood Family Practice to find out how the PC could most effectively assist them in their front line work.
• To use the PC website and distribution opportunities to publicise how people can get help. Whilst this is, of course, a jump into the unknown, the Parish Council hopes that these initial measures clearly show that we are ready and willing to support those activities which are of obvious benefit to the people of greatest need in our community. The Parish Council is very proud of the steadfast community spirit and resilience shown by everyone in the village and would urge you to follow developments on the excellent Pill Coronavirus Community Support Facebook Group.

In the meantime thank you all for your efforts and for showing kindness to everyone.
Paul Kent on behalf of the Parish Council.

Today, as a consequence of the Coronavirus, we have taken the very difficult decision to close all our face-to-face advice services with immediate effect. Instead we will be delivering a telephone, email, webchat (Help to Claim) and skype advice service which will start from tomorrow, Thursday 18th March 2020. I have attached a poster with all our contact details and I would be grateful if you could share this with your networks and if possible to print it out and place it in prominent places so that people in your area will know how to contact us.

Phone

03444 111 444
03444 111 445 (text relay)

Monday-Friday 9am-5pm (hours reflect national service; local service may vary) Client line: 01934 836 200

Online Advice

www.citizensadvice.org.uk

Email Advice

advice@nscab.org.uk
(response in 5 working days)

For the latest Service updates.

www.nscab.org.uk
@CAB_NSomerset

What barriers prevent you from travelling to and from Portbury, Avonmouth & Severnside?
Local Authorities in the West of England are working in partnership with SevernNet to develop a joint Transport Strategy for movement in the Portbury, Avonmouth and Severnside (PAS) area, helping to ensure it develops to the benefit of the West of England, supporting businesses, employees, residents and other associated access requirements.
The aim of the Transport Strategy is to help connect people from across the region with job opportunities in the Portbury, Avonmouth and Severnside area, through sustainable modes of transport. For more information please visit us at travelwest.info/projects/pas-portbury-avonmouth-severnside.

How can I get involved?
We will be holding a number of events across the region in March & April and we would love to hear your views on how the current transport options linking your area to Portbury, Avonmouth and Severnside act as a barrier to employment.
Here are some of our upcoming events:
25/03/2020 – Clevedon Job Centre. 9.30am – 12.30pm. Castlewood, Tickenham Rd, Clevedon BS21 6FW
30/03/2020 – Weston Job Centre. 10am – 2pm. Regent House, High St, Weston-super-Mare BS23 1JH

Alternatively please complete our online survey and have the opportunity to be entered into a prize draw to win £100 Love2Shop vouchers here: travelwest.info/pas/survey