I hope you are all well and are able to deal with the difficulties of daily living during the current serious and restrictive COVID -19 situation. The speed with which it has developed has caused our whole nation to change and change rapidly.
Although we cancelled the general meeting scheduled for 23 March and the field day for 28 March, the OFF committee met (quite successfully via the ‘Zoom’ conferencing app) recently and decided to try to keep OFF operating to the greatest extent possible. We believe it is important to keep members informed and involved during this difficult period.In this regard we will continue producing this newsletter as long as it can be done remotely and in compliance with current COVID-19 movement restrictive rules and with everyone’s safety uppermost in mind. And of course we can post items on the OFF website and Facebook page for those who can access them.
General meetings in the RSL sub-branch hall have been cancelled at least until June when the latest situation will be reviewed. However as an alternative offering we will try to arrange for the scheduled speakers to deliver their talks over a suitable internet function. This may or may not include the ability to interact with the speaker remotely. We will also endeavour to record the proceedings for later viewing by those who could not access it on the night. If we cannot facilitate the speaker delivery on the scheduled date we will try to arrange it at an appropriate time later in the year when hopefully things might return to normal operations.
Likewise field days have been cancelled at least until June when the latest situation will be reviewed. Unfortunately we cannot arrange a virtual field day but we will again try to arrange the field day when and where feasible at an appropriate time later in the year.
I’m pleased to also say OFF will be undertaking production of the Oatley Calendar for 2021 as we have generally done on alternate years with the Oatley Heritage and Historical Society (OHHS). A call for submission of photos for potential inclusion is in this edition of the newsletter. We will be ensuring once again that OFF members’ and the wider community’s safety is highest priority in the process of delivering this project.
I look forward to your continued participation in OFF ‘activities’ over these difficult times. As you can appreciate this will be an evolving process over the coming months. If you have any concerns or queries or would like to provide feedback feel free to email or call me or other committee members.
With kind regards and please stay safe.
Kim Wagstaff
President