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COVID-19 UPDATE

*Statement Updated – September 2022

Organisations in Wales still have a legal obligation to weigh up Covid risks, after looking at all our events and spaces, we have decided there are sufficient reasons to continue to encourage all visitors to the building to:

  • Undertake a lateral flow test before your visit when available (including customers attending for community activities and room hire by external organisations).
  • Continue to wear face coverings throughout the building (including when sitting in the auditorium) if you wish to do so, but it is no longer a requirement.
  • Please stay away if you show any signs of a viral infection.
  • Continue to use the hand sanitiser you see around the building.

If you do show signs of Covid or test positive, please stay at home, self-isolate, and follow Welsh Government guidance.

The safety and confidence of our partners, customers, staff, volunteer team and audiences remain paramount. We will continue to use the Welsh Government guidance and instructions to institute our own risk assessment, and we will use all reasonable measures to maintain a safe and comfortable environment for customers and staff to work in.

Measures include:

  • Increased ventilation. Both the Lesser Hall and our Main Auditorium have automated fresh air handling systems, which keeps you safe but you may find it colder when you attend our events this winter. Please feel free to bring your own blanket or throw to keep yourselves warm and cosy while you’re watching a show/film.
  • Enhanced cleaning, including the use of a state of the art environmentally friendly anti-bacterial and viral fabric cleaning system.
  • More emphasis on contactless ticketing and online purchases (apologies for the resource and technical difficulties we have had in the bar)
  • Face coverings are welcome throughout the building including in the auditorium.
  • Ongoing reminders to audience members that should they need to stay home if they exhibit any symptoms of Covid, they can be safe in the knowledge that they will receive a credit or transfer.
  • We will follow the latest Government guidelines – staff will repeatedly emphasise “Hands – Face – Masks – Fresh Air “etc.

We remain grateful for all the lovely messages of support from our wonderful audiences and community over the last 2 and a half years, and for the ongoing support that we have received from stakeholders, especially Ystradgynlais Town Council, Arts Council of Wales and Powys County Council. With your support and by working together, all of us will come out of this stronger and more connected than ever.

Whilst these changes will allow our community to make the steps toward recovery, our staff and Charitable Trustees remain cautious. We can confirm that we are continuing to experience unprecedented changes to patterns of use by customers and this has financial, staffing and service provisions implications, but we are striving to adapt to community needs.

As a multi-purpose venue we need all our activities to be functioning together to make us financially viable. Throughout the lockdown periods of the pandemic, we were proud to have supported essential services working at our venue, including the Welsh Blood Donation Service and the Covid-19 Testing Unit and Vaccination Clinics. Also, alongside our regular Arts partners, we co-produced theatre for adults and children, we have operated our own children’s and community engagement activities, and more recently we have undertaken outdoor theatre throughout the summer with an emphasis on the wellbeing of our community, any organisations that have families in need of free tickets to events are welcome to contact us to find out about schemes to support those in financial hardship.

*COVID SAFETY INFORMATION & REQUIREMENTS FOR EVENT ATTENDEES
(Room Hirers, please get in touch for our Covid-Related Room Hire Risk Assessment):

Balancing the long established financial pressures to reopen at full capacity now that Welsh Government regulations allow, brings many considerations and challenges for us and all Welsh theatres and performing arts venues – we know that audience confidence is imperative for the sector to survive.

CONTACTLESS TICKETING & PURCHASES:

  • We are currently not handing out paper tickets – we will ask for your email address to send your tickets to. You can either print them out at home or show them on your phone or mobile device. If you do not have an email address, don’t worry, we will have your name on our guest list on the day of the event.
  • Please note, in order for us to plan our seating layouts (SEE SEATING INFORMATION BELOW), we need to know exactly how many people are attending. Therefore you will need to pay for your tickets at the time of booking, we can no longer hold any tickets for payment at a later date.

REFUNDS/TRANSFERS:

If you cannot attend the performance due to testing positive for covid-19 or self-isolating due to coming into contact with someone who has tested positive for covid-19, then we will exchange or refund your ticket. This is subject to you informing us prior to the show start time. Please note, we may ask for proof of positive Covid status before processing your refund. We do not offer refunds

No other refunds will be given.

If you no longer wish to attend due to concerns around covid-19 (but you haven’t tested positive and you are not self isolating) then we will exchange your tickets for a different performance. Please contact us 48 hours prior to the performance start time in this instance.

SEATING:

To enable us to be as flexible as we can with our seating layouts, we will not be allowing customers to choose their own seats for the majority of our events (Those with a seating plan will be accessible on that particular event’s booking page). As a multi-purpose venue, a ‘one size fits all’ seating plan is not a viable option for us especially during these tough times, so we will be allocating seating in advance behind the scenes. This means that you will be shown to your seats on arrival once you’ve checked in at the box office. To ensure that you are sat together with friends, family etc, please book in advance online as a group booking as we’re unable to guarantee you are sat together otherwise.

FACE MASKS:

As of 28th February 2022, face coverings are legally required only in retail, public transport, and health and care settings. However, as organisations in Wales still have a legal obligation to weigh up Covid risks, after looking at all our events and spaces, we have decided there are sufficient reasons to continue to encourage staff and customers to wear face masks when walking about the building if they wish to do so.

This wording is direct from the Welsh Government to highlight that point…

“Managers of premises may ask you to wear a face covering. They can ask you to do this because they have looked at how to manage the risks for their business. If this is the case, you are asked to comply unless you are otherwise exempt from wearing a face covering.”

We know that some customers will no longer want to wear masks, but we encourage all customers to do all they can to help us make others feel comfortable.

If you have any further queries, please don’t hesitate to contact us at boxoffice@thewelfare.co.uk or on 01639 843163.
We look forward to seeing you soon. Stay safe.

Team Welfare