Dear Members, Makers and Friends,

Following the Government’s latest advice (23/3/2020), we are now obliged to close the space until further notice. (The advice is here: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/pm-address-to-the-nation-on-coronavirus-23-march-2020 )

There are several reasons for this:

1. The government’s advice suggests we might be breaking the law to remain open (in spirit if not in letter).
2. We have a duty to each other to reduce the spread of this disease, and as the incidence of it continues to increase in our area, we must make sure we don’t make this problem worse by allowing it to spread between each other.
3. Commercial Union House has also been obliged to close, so in practice, we would also have to close regardless.

We know how important our community is to each other, as a source of friends, ideas, and conversation – while the physical space is closed (and alas, we can’t access our tools etc), it’s important that we have a way to keep in contact if we want to.

We’re working on this right now (likely to be based on Matrix.org). If this interests you, keep an eye out on the NE Makers discussion list.

Yours,

The Maker Space Board

Please note this post has been superseded by https://www.makerspace.org.uk/blog/2020/03/covid-19-update/

Due to the updated Government advice regarding social distancing to reduce the spread of COVID-19, Makerspace has taken the decision to CANCEL Welcome Wednesday and any other public-access events with immediate effect.

So, it will not be happening this week, and will not happen again until the government advice or situation changes.
This means that the space will not be open to receive non-members or guests, and the social visit to the pub will also not happen.

For members ONLY, the space will be accessable, but you should only come in if:

You need to work on, or collect something from the space
You are feeling well, with no temperature and no new cough symptoms, AND nobody in your household is self isolating.

If you are a member, and are going to come in to the space, please:

do not come in if you are unwell
do not come in just to socialise
please respect other members’ personal space and do not get close to them if this can be avoided.
ensure good hand hygiene (ie regularly wash them), and use a tissue to catch coughs/sneezes (see note above about not coming in if you have a new cough!)

Government advice may well change again (it is likely to become more restrictive) and if this happens the space may need to be closed to everyone, so if you have some things in the space that you would not want to lose access to, it would a good opportunity to take them home as soon as possible.
Ideally if we did close the space, we would aim to give people an opportunity to get their things, but we cannot guarantee this.

Thank you all for your cooperation with this.