The Beacon Message Board

Unfortunately, this week's advice on the Tier system has placed Birmingham/Solihull/Walsall/Wolverhampton and Sandwell into Tier 2 - High Category. The official advice for Birmingham now reads...:

New coronavirus restrictions have been announced for Birmingham residents as a result of the government’s new three-tier system. They will come into effect on Wednesday 14 October

The city has been placed in the ‘alert level 2’ due to infection rates above 100 per 100,000 people. This means households will not be able to meet other households indoors (except with support bubbles) including indoor hospitality, leisure and retail. This is in addition to the national ‘rule of six’ and the local ban on meeting other households in private homes – though the rule of six will now apply to private gardens.


As such, official Beacon club run rules will need to change given that people from two households cannot meet inside cafes.

We will still allow club runs with a maximum of six people, but they now must be aligned with the below:

1. Beacon Bursts (i.e. non-stop) are encouraged.
2. If a café stop is being considered, then you must sit outside, and as we are moving into autumn/winter, this is unlikely to be realistic, but be clear on your post that this is an outdoor café stop only. Take your space blanket
3. Longer club runs that involve a shop stop only are still allowed. Be clear on your post if you are suggesting this.

This is obviously not great, but we must play our part as a responsible club...so no indoor café club runs are permitted until our area moves into Tier 1 - Medium.

As we are a Birmingham based club, it is not fair to suggest people who live in in Worcestershire (Tier 1 residents) can eat indoors whilst others can't. I will advise on all club run posts if I see people going against this above approach.

Thanks and continue to enjoy your cycling where and when you can

Phil

Thanks Phil...that's how I see it.

Playing devils advocate, if we rode to a café as a group of 6 and sat on 6 separate tables, would that be a way of still complying with the guidelines, but being able to sit inside. The only place that I can think of that might be large enough to do this is Cob House fisheries.

I would like to remain within the spirit of the guidelines, and also the latest club run rules, so just thought i'd float the idea above for consideration...happy to delete this to avoid confusion if necessary

Thanks for the update

Still plenty of outdoor venues to use. For example, Clive's, British Camp, Wyre Forest along with take outs from retail