HOME / COVID-19
We encourage everyone that uses The Vale to consider what measures will help reduce the risk of Covid-19 for the safety of our visitors, staff, artists and crew.
If you (or someone in your household) has a persistent cough, a high temperature or has lost their sense of taste or smell, you should not be visiting The Vale.
As restrictions and legislation are lifted, the responsibility for implementing risk mitigating measures changes from being a legal one to a moral one. Everyone has more freedom to implement measures that they consider appropriate depending on many factors such as venue size, layout, activities, types of facilities available, personal circumstances etc. The Vale has delivered a full risk assessment and encourages all visitors and workers to read and acknowledge the following guidance.
We want to ensure that people most impacted by the pandemic, including those who are disabled or clinically extremely vulnerable (CEV), feel confident about revisiting creative and cultural spaces or returning to work as restrictions are removed. We feel it is important for everyone to take steps to ensure that everyone is supported and given the flexibility they need to feel safe to return.
If you have additional access needs and would like to discuss those with a member of our team please contact us via email (hello@the-vale.co.uk) or by telephone 01457238089.
We encourage all visitors and facility users to book in advance. A limited number of tickets may be available for ‘walk ins’ but where possible you should book your tickets for events and activities on The Vales website www.the-vale.co.uk or through the usual channels for booking spaces of facilities. If in doubt you can contact a member of our team via email hello@the-vale.co.uk
Restrictions on group sizes, their composition, and allowable interactions have been removed in England on the July 19th 2021. Social Distancing in England will also no longer be in place from July 19th 2021. It is still important to consider the comfort and safety of everyone using The Vale.
We encourage you to continue to socially distance and minimise close contact whenever possible and where this feels appropriate. Visitors to The Vale should be mindful that for some, hugs, handshakes and close contact might not be on the cards just yet. Always consider those who are disabled or clinically extremely vulnerable (CEV) and observe that on many occasions this may not be visible.
Following the most recent Government announcement it is no longer compulsory to wear masks in indoor venues, including cinemas. It is recognised as a proven mitigation measure which reduces droplet risk of transmission.
For our events and activities the use of face coverings is a suggested mitigation measure and not a legal requirement (such as live music events). We encourage their use whenever appropriate. We respect all visitors’ wishes and do not enforce the use of face coverings.
Regular hand washing and the use of sanitiser stations at our venue is encouraged for all and should be utilised wherever possible.
The Vale has taken advice from the Health and Safety Executive with regards to Covid-19 Guidelines on HVAC systems. This means wherever possible will no longer be recirculating air in our spaces unless absolutely necessary. If air conditioning is required we will also ensure that our ventilation systems only use external air supplies and these are turned on to full alongside any air conditioning. We have air ventilation systems in the Venue and Studio 2. Where no air ventilation is available windows and where possible doors will remain open to encourage the flow of air and adequate fresh external air enters the building. This may mean our venue is colder than usual.
Some of our events are now based on reduced capacity. Our full standing venue capacity is 310 but for standing events, tickets are limited to 200 and seated events are limited between 90 and 130 depending on venue configuration. For other events we are encuraging pre-booking to manage numbers and also longer workshop slots for some ‘drop in’ events.
We will continue to carry out additional cleaning in the building.
We have installed screens at our Box Office to help keep our staff safe.
We have hand sanitiser stations around the building that we encurage visitors to use regularily.