More no news.....
Our summer term rehearsals and June concert were all cancelled and everyone is really sad that so much happy music making did not take place. We are hoping that rehearsals can start this autumn but in what form we do not know yet. We obviously want our concert at the end of November to take place but its form and content may be very different to our usual concert - but if can put on a concert - WE WILL.
For now we are just waiting for the next government announcement and hoping they are seeing what our European colleagues are doing and the detailed scientific research they and many other scientific institutions around the world are doing. There is much scientific research being done into how music making can be done safely in our new corona virus world. We would like to be confident that the UK government and Public Health England take note of this and we don't have to wait until the scientific studies in England which have only just starting are completed and guidance prepared.
The music industry and supporters are all urging the government to speed up the process for providing science based guidance on re-opening. Guidance on the performing arts has recently been issued (click here to see) by the UK government and would seem to imply that string players in amateur orchestras can now rehearse together so long as there is adequate social distancing in place. We are looking at this in more detail to see whether we can now have some limited rehearsals although this is not straightforward given that any rehearsal space needs to be large, well ventilated and cleaned regularly. I am told that multi storey car parks could fit the bill and have good acoustics - its just that Sudbury does not have any.
In the meantime - we wait and see and hope.
Keep well and keep washing those hands.