CWA hall to remain closed

The Woy Woy branch of the Country Women's Association has decided not to hire out its community hall until January at the earliest.

The decision was made due to the difficulties in maintaining hygiene in a space that could be hired out to different groups of people twice a day.

"The Covid-19 guidelines and restrictions for community halls mean that as a group of volunteers we cannot continue renting out our hall on a daily basis as we do not have the resources to check the hall every day after each hirer leaves and before the next one arrives," said Woy Woy branch president Ms Jane Bowtell.

"While we trust every hall hirer does a thorough clean, it is ultimately our responsibility as an association to make absolutely sure.

"We are also currently limited to 12 people in the hall at any one time.

"This decision was a difficult one but one we feel protects not only us but the whole community.

"We have a lot of very loyal permanent hirers and we know this decision will affect them dramatically and hope that once we are able to safely open they will come back to us."

Ms Bowtell said the branch had been focusing on collecting and donating bedding and clothing for those in need, in partnership with groups including Central Coast Disaster Relief, Coast Hands, We Care Connect and Because We Care Boutique Central Coast.

She said the group had been able to use the hall to store the donated items.

While the hall will remain closed to hirers, we have decided to keep the donation drive going," said Ms Bowtell.

"We are extending it to include food items for people and their pets so that Central Coast Disaster Relief and Coast Hands can make up food hampers to help those in need during these unprecedented times.

"This was and is still undertaken using social distancing and the square metre rule government guidelines."

SOURCE:

Media Release, 16 Jul 202,

Jane Bowtell, CWA Woy Woy