Sat 7 Mar. 2020
IIC&G PRESIDENT'S MARCH MESSAGE
Whether it be severe and repeated flooding or with the impact and sheer unknown consequences of Coronavirus, negative publicity towards our industry is almost an inevitability as a result of decisions and actions we take. We all know however that there are thousands and thousands of colleagues working tirelessly to ensure our customers and suppliers are receiving the best possible help and advice in difficult and challenging times.
I have included the formal CII line at the bottom of the March message. For IIC&G though it is business as usual; this is where we are at:
We are keen to get the message out that the dinner on 24th April remains ON. Dinner Secretary Nicola Hunt and myself were at the venue last week and all remains in order. Clearly though this remains a fluid situation and we will keep talking with all interested parties.
Our March M92 and LM1 revision sessions together with the 3rd part of our Mental Health CPD programme remain ON. With completion of these events we will have reached 20 events for the year. Education Lead Tim Chandler and his team deserve massive plaudits and have planned another big year for 2020/21.
Our quiz on 30th April is pretty much sold out and Zofia Weaver our Sports and Social Lead has done a terrific job with this and she has some really interesting new events to roll out in the next 12 months that Zofia and the team have been exploring.
In February we handed over 224kg of food and drink to Gloucester Foodbank, almost doubling last year’s donations. We also had a spur of the moment blanket, sheet and towel collection for Cheltenham Animal Shelter which I delivered last week which was well needed. Thankyou to all who helped and Zoe Davis, Jack Western, Elise Jordan-Bloom and Laura Eccles for their invaluable co-ordination and energy on our Charity and Community work.
I managed to get 109km in running done in February and in a desperate old man effort to catch up have done 43km in the first week in March as my summer of pain looms. Thankyou for all your positive verbal and financial contributions; a lot more to follow on this.
End of March will see the deadline for Achiever of the Year nominations (some strong entries so far) and also my Charity Golf Day https://cms.localinstitutes.cii.co.uk/cheltenham-gloucester/home/events/2019/2020/iicg-presidents-charity-golf-day/
Finally good luck to all the GI and PFS members taking exams in March and April; your commitment is admirable and we hope you get the successes you deserve.
Have a good safe month in March and see you in April
Simon McGill
IIC&G President
The current CII approach is not to routinely cancel or postpone events. However, we would like to encourage all stakeholders to take reasonable and pragmatic precautions against the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
The CII is currently taking the following steps to reduce risk at events:
- Where joining instructions/agendas/reminders etc. are being sent out in advance of events, we recommend all attendees are reminded of the public health advice. The Government has updated it’s advice for travellers returning from various countries and you can find full details (updated daily) here. You can also find some important information about the virus here.
- Physical greetings (eg shaking hands) should be discouraged
- Where refreshments are being served, hygiene standards should be carefully observed to minimise physical contact with food (eg. food should only be served with tongs or spoons, avoid serving crisps/nuts in communal bowls)
- Masks are not required or encouraged as current guidelines state they should only be worn by symptomatic individuals on the recommendation of a healthcare professional.
The CII has a dedicated working group who are monitoring the situation on an ongoing basis. The guidance above may change at short notice and any changes will be communicated to you at the earliest opportunity.
It will remain up to the individual LIs to assess their own risk and take appropriate action if necessary. We are also aware of situations where business policies are expected to significantly impact attendance, which may also provoke an understandable decision to cancel or postpone an event.