Attending a Service

We are delighted  to be able to welcome people to our building at Queen Victoria Road, and we are sure that you will find it a blessing to gather for worship. Our approach has been to ensure that we do everything we can to adhere to Welsh Government legislation and related guidelines.

We are very aware of our obligations to keep you safe and similarly the community at large. We have read and reflected on legislation, guidelines, Welsh Government Technical Advisory Group reports, English Government guidelines and documents from several Christian organisations. The Risk Assessment and processes we have put in place are based on this information and are designed for your safety and that of the community.

You are probably wondering what your visit will look like. Above all, it will look as wonderful as any gathering of Christ’s church! Below are some notes to help you understand some of the practical details

Before I leave the house

There are a few things that you should know before you leave the house so that you can prepare accordingly.

• You may need to queue outside the building before entry, so do check the weather to decide whether you will need a coat!
• The windows and doors will all be open for the duration of the service, so please consider whether you are going to need warm clothes.
• You will be required to wear a face mask for the duration of your visit, so please bring one along with you. If you do forget yours, don’t worry as we will have freely available disposable face masks. You do not need to wear a mask if you are unable to do so owing to medical reasons. Children under the age of 11 do not need to wear a mask.
• If you have any COVID-19 symptoms, you must not attend the service. If symptoms occur after you have booked, please email us to let us know that you are no longer coming. If you attend the service and are displaying symptoms you will be asked to leave straightaway.
• If you have been asked to isolate for any reason, you must not attend the service.
• A register will be kept of all who attend the service for 21 days in accordance with the Government’s requirement for test and trace purposes.
• Welsh Government has strongly advised that individuals undertake a Lateral Flow Test (LFT) for Covid before going to crowded place or visiting friends and we would ask you to consider doing this in order to help assure the safety of others.

Arrival

As you arrive, you will notice that there are stewards on hand to guide you through the process. They will be wearing masks, but we promise that they will be smiling underneath them!

Before you enter the building, please put on your face mask. If you’ve forgotten yours, don’t worry as you can just tell a steward that you need one.

Getting from the entrance to your seat

When you enter the foyer, you will see that there is a hand sanitising station on the left. Please ensure that you sanitise your hands. This is a requirement on entering to reduce the likelihood of contact transmission and we really appreciate your cooperation with this.

The seating is arranged in such a way as to maintain at least 1m distance between households. Stewards will be on hand to assist you with this, but all that is required is that you leave two empty seats between you and the household or person adjacent to you in order to maintain the 1m distance.

In your seat at last!

Please don’t move into another seat – the layout will be been planned to ensure 1m distancing between households/bubbles/individuals. Please don’t exchange your seat with somebody else’s.

Whilst you wait for the service to start, please refrain from speaking to individuals outside your own household/bubble for a prolonged period. We of course realise that you will want to say “hello” as you see people and this is only natural and is of course perfectly acceptable. However, owing to the nature of airborne transmission, we would ask that you refrain from prolonged conversations. We would encourage you to use the time to pray quietly and read, and we are sure that you’ll find fellowship in this way to be precious too.

Can I sing?

The Welsh Government has permitted singing in places of worship. They have commissioned a lot of research into this and are asking places of worship to consider carefully the risks associated with this. We need to be mindful of things we can do to reduce the risk. One of these things is the wearing of face masks. The open windows will also be a help, as will maintaining 1m social distancing. We would ask you also to respect the request of the Welsh Government that have asked that we sing in a quiet voice. It also helps that we are all facing the same way when we sing.

If you are not wearing a mask because of medical reasons, we ask you to refrain from singing. This is because the high degree of airborne transmission associated with singing. We are not asking children under 11 who don’t have a mask to refrain from singing. We believe that it is important to allow children to be part of the worship and have taken the approach of balancing this with the other mitigating measures we have put in place.

Can I use the toilets?

The toilets will be open for the duration of the service. If you do use them, please apply sanitising gel to your hands as you enter and wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds as you leave.

At the end of the service.

Exiting the building will be staggered, and you will be told when you can leave.

Please sanitise your hands as you leave. For those of you downstairs, please use the sanitiser in the entrance foyer that you used on entry. For those of you upstairs, sanitising gel is available for you adjacent to your seat and you don’t then need to use the sanitiser downstairs.

We have an area at the front of the church building where there is space to meet up and chat after the service. We try to use this rather than block the pavement outside the door. Please do stay and chat afterwards.