*Please check back here for regular updates about Coram’s Fields* *Updates 03/21*
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In light of the government’s announcement of a roadmap and the gradual lifting of restrictions over the months ahead, we are looking forward to getting all of our services back to normal as soon as possible. Please see below updates on all services. The best way to keep up to speed with what’s going on at Coram’s Fields is to sign up to our mailing list here.
Park and Playgrounds – open 9am-6pm from the 1st April (5pm closing until 31st March)– 7 days a week
Our park and playgrounds remain open for local families and children aged 16 and under. From the 1st April, we will be extending the current opening hours of the park from 9am-5pm to 9am-6pm, moving to 7pm closing at the beginning of May. We are delighted to also be reopening our café during the Easter holidays and look forward to welcoming you all back for some scrumptious snacks, hot drinks and kids pack ups! You can find more information on our café here.
PLEASE NOTE: Our staff will start clearing the park 15 minutes before park closing each day, to allow time for people to leave on time.
Visitors to the park must adhere to the current social distancing rules, further details of which can be found by clicking here. In summary, from the 29th March this means that visitors can meet in a group of six (the rule of 6) or with two whole households.
PLEASE NOTE: We are working with the local police to enforce social distancing in our park. Please be aware that the police will issue fines for those breaching restrictions.
Football Pitches/Basketball Courts (currently in line with park opening hours. From the 29th March pitches open until 10pm for young people and bookings) – From the 29th March, children and young people aged 19 and under, will once again be able to use our football pitches for organised sporting activity. Our football pitches will also reopen for commercial bookings from the 29th March. Those using our pitches for non-organised sporting activity must continue to adhere to the national social distancing measures (rule of 6 above)
Our Nursery remains open and has places available – Our Nursery has remained open throughout the lockdown, however, we have been prioritising those requiring essential childcare. We are now lifting our number cap and have places available immediately for 2, 3 and 4 year olds. If you’re interested in a place for your child, please contact our Head of Early Years, Carole Perry at Carole@coramsfields.org.uk
Out of School Club (OSC) – After school club and holiday scheme: Our OSC re-opened on Wednesday 10th March 2021 offering a pick-up service to St George the Martyr, Christopher Hatton and St Albans. We hope to resume our pick up service with Argyle school after Easter. Our Easter holiday scheme is now full but if you’re interested in a place for the May half term, you can register your interest now! For general enquiries or further information about places at our OSC, please contact Kate Gardner at kate@coramsfields.org.uk
Community Sports Programme: We’re delighted to be re-starting our community sports programme again on site from this Easter and will be running our ever popular short holiday camps throughout the holidays. We’ve got plenty of cool stuff going on and you can see our full Easter programme here. We will also be starting our term time after school programme again during the summer term and will be releasing more information on this soon! For more information on our sports programme, contact our Head of Youth and Sport, Naz Deen at naz@coramsfields.org.uk or our Sports Development Officer, Meghan McKeever on meghann@coramsfields.org.uk
Youth Programme: During the lockdown, we have continued to deliver a range of support for local young people including; face to face homework support, specialist group work, online employment support, support for young women and community outreach. You can see full details of our current programme here. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be re-starting more of our face to face services to ensure that we can continue to reach those young people that need us most. For further information on our youth programme, please contact Daniel Jourdan, daniel@coramsfields.org.uk
Under 5s: Our Under 5s Drop in remains closed at the current time. We know how important the service is for local families. We hope to be able to reopen the drop in service from June 2021, subject to the lifting of restrictions.
Volunteer: Under the current guidance, volunteering outside of people’s household/support bubble is still permitted and we are always looking for new volunteers to get involved in a range of projects across the site, including a number of gardening projects and support with the upkeep and maintenance of the park. If you are interested helping out, we’d love to hear from you. You can find out more by contacting Laure, laure@coramsfields.org.uk. All volunteer opportunities are managed in a COVID secure way and all volunteer projects at the current time, take place outside.
To keep up to date with our plans, please sign up to our mailing list here – We will also be updating this page and our Twitter, Facebook and Instagram pages with regular updates.
Thanks to all those that have supported us!
In April 2020, we launched our first ever Emergency Appeal due to the devastating impact of Covid-19. The response from our community has been nothing short of phenomenal. People have been donating and fundraising to raise vital funds to help us through the crisis. On our JustGiving page over £67,500 has been raised so far by over 880 people, which has smashed our original target of £50,000.
To those that have already supported us, thank you so much! The emergency funds raised will make an incredible difference in helping us to be resilient through this crisis and provide vital support to children and young people.
But our future is still uncertain. A large portion of our income is generated through hiring our football pitches and halls to local businesses. This crucial funding raised through our hires stopped overnight at the start of the lockdown in March. We were up and running again for a short while as restrictions began to lift, but the second lockdown has put our progress at risk again.
For those that haven’t yet done so, we still really need your support – please consider making a donation or taking on a fundraising challenge to help our efforts: https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/SaveCoramsFields
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This Christmas, we are also launching our Carry Change campaign. Children in our Out of School Club have been designing special artwork to feature on our exclusive Coram’s Fields tote bag. By starting a regular gift to Coram’s Fields, you will receive a tote bag and #CarryChange for local children and young people who rely on our facilities and services. You’ll help children to have the best possible start in life through this difficult time.
If we know your gift will arrive every month, we can plan for the future because we know we’ll have a steady income stream to rely on. This is crucial in such uncertain times. The bags will be here mid-November, but you can bag your tote bag early by starting a regular gift today.
Many thanks for your patience and support during this time.
The team at Coram’s Fields
