From our Chairman – Keith

I do hope you are all keeping safe and well. Things are starting to open up a little now and you will be interested to hear that your SHS Committee met on Thursday 27th September in a Covid-compliant pub for the first time. This illustrates the way the rules are. We can meet in a Covid-compliant premises but not in a private house. This seems a bit odd but in reality, it makes sense. It also illustrates the route we will be taking to get you all together in a large (Covid-compliant) space following the same rules.

We have spent a lot of time examining the latest information and you may like to take a look at the following links to see the latest thinking.
CLICK HERE and CLICK HERE
So potentially we can get back together but there are a lot of hoops to jump through. Even if we get together, singing will have to be carefully controlled at low volume levels and maybe with facemasks.

At present many venues, including High Cross, have decided to be cautious in reopening. It is not only SHS that has to follow new rules, we also need the venue where we meet to give us assurances concerning their compliance with the rules. At present we have not been able to get everything in place and so we cannot meet on 7 September or on any other rehearsal day yet. We are looking to see how we can arrange to get together as soon as possible and we will let you know as soon as we can.

In the meantime, our Membership Secretary will be sending some initial details to you concerning risk assessment and compliance details that we need to get in hand before we can get started. A small team from the committee is also working on getting some sort of online activity going and we will give you more details about this as it is developed.

You will be pleased to hear that our long running lack of a Secretary has now been solved. Colin Gunner has agreed to return to this role. Colin is a very competent and experienced individual with a positive and friendly approach. I am relieved that there is someone to help with the AGM when it can finally go ahead. I welcome Colin back and wish him well in for the future.

Keith – Chairman SHS

Guidance from Making Music

Some tips for having a good Zoom meeting

1. Join early – its a good idea to join the meeting a few minutes early, in case of problems
2. Lighting:  Try to get your lighting right – we want to see your face and not a silhouette.
   Get light onto your face and avoid the camera pointing at light sources, like windows or lamps
3. Camera Position:  Try to get the camera at eye-level – you look much better that way
4. Controls:  Know how to work the audio and video controls in Zoom
   Practice with a friend if you are a novice
   Click here for controls guide
5. Only one person can be heard at any time:
   In larger meetings, it may be necessary to wait your turn to speak
   Raise your hand to get the attention of the meeting chair
6. Stay muted:  Audio feedback can be a problem in Zoom meetings, as can ambient noise.  Sit well away from unwanted noise, if possible.  Use headphones or ear-plugs, if you have them.
   Keep your microphone OFF (muted) – unless speaking, of course.
   On a PC, the space-bar will unmute the audio while pressed
7. If the meeting ends abruptly, wait a minute and rejoin the same meeting.  If you get disconnected, the Zoom application will normally rejoin the meeting for you
8. Be sure your computer has a good connection to the internet.
   Zoom uses a lot of bandwidth and needs a good internet connection to work well.  For best WiFi, locate the computer close to the router