Happy April everyone! The clocks have gone forward and the sun is shining, which can only mean one thing… summer is on its way! With it comes warmer days, lighter evenings, and the chance to reunite with family and friends once again.
In this blog we’ll outline when and where you’re allowed to meet, as well as give an update on our photo competition and let you into a little secret we’ve got planned for the months ahead…
We’ve got a lot of exciting announcements this month so let’s get right down to it!
Government guidance
The ‘Rule of Six’ returned on the 29th March as part of the Government’s plan to guide us out of the Covid-19 pandemic, paving the way for picnics and barbecues! But we all still need to be careful, and we wanted to give you an overview on what these new changes actually mean:
- People are now allowed to meet outside, including gardens, in groups of six people – or more as long as it’s kept to just two households
- The Government’s ‘stay at home’ message has ended, but people are still urged to stay local where possible
- Outdoor sport facilities have re-opened and people can finally restart organised sports outdoors
Also in April, we can look forward to a number of other things opening up again! From the 12th April, indoor leisure, non-essential retail, libraries, community centres, and personal care premises and hairdressers can all re-open. It will finally be back to business in Oakley Vale!
For the most up to date information on restrictions, including what you can and cannot do, click here.
Photo competition update
Finally, the moment you’ve all been waiting for…
We have announced the winner of our latest photo competition!
Congratulations to our winner, Santa Markova for this wonderful photo that perfectly captures our Hope in Oakley Vale theme! The sun rise over Oakley Vale certainly does bring inspiration and hope to so many of us.
As always, following the announcement of our latest winner, we can now unveil our next theme and this time round it is… Nature & Wildlife.
We want to see your most stunning photos of nature in action, it could be a shot of the beauty and diversity of the flowers in Oakley Vale, a rolling shot of the green space here, or some of Oakley Vale’s best-known wildlife up close and personal!
For those of you who don’t know, we run the competition every quarter and £50 is up for grabs for the winning entry! Simply submit your photo through the website and fill in your information so we can get in touch with you if you win – it’s that easy!
This time round, we will be taking submissions until June 1st, good luck!
Something secret…
Finally, we want to leave you with news that we’re currently working on a few behind the scenes projects! We’ve been looking at expanding our current social media to amplify our local community’s voice – and will be launching a survey soon to get more of your opinions on how this website and our social channels can best serve the community!
We’re also working on doing more to promote nature and wildlife in the community! With more and more of us exploring the great outdoors in lockdown, we thought now would be the perfect time to share our community’s very own nature/wildlife tips and discoveries. Stay tuned for more detail – we can’t wait to share it with you!
All that’s left to say is that we hope everyone has a great month! Please continue to stay safe and well – see you in May!
