2020-21 Lecture Season - update as at 14 September 2020

The committee met last week to discuss the next steps for the Group, particularly with the lecture season due to kick off in October.

You will be aware that the Government announced tighter rules around social gatherings recently which, together with Ayrshire College's restrictions on use of their facilities at present, means that it is difficult to see when we can meet up for lectures in the foreseeable future. We also accept that many of our members may be uneasy at attending social gatherings should restrictions relax in the next few weeks.

 he committee are therefore of the view that we should effectively postpone or part postpone the first half of the season – October to December – whilst we consider how best to deliver talks to you.

In order to ensure we can deliver talks in some way we are investigating an appropriate means to enable this. Many of us have become familiar with Zoom and similar platforms over the past few months and it is probable that we will need to consider a style of virtual delivery option, certainly for most of this season. We also must liaise with our speakers to establish those who are comfortable with this idea. It may be that we can take some kind of blended approach after New Year whereby we have virtual and actual lectures. We are looking into all options.

With this piece of work being carried out in the background I will keep you updated as matters progress and hope to deliver a trial talk or two before Christmas. I appreciate that not everyone is comfortable with the idea of a virtual talk – please but be assured we are looking at the best possible options to deliver something of a lecture season. Hopefully social restrictions are relaxed to an extent whereby small groups of members can, should they wish, meet up to enjoy the virtual talks within the guidelines in place at any given time.

Hopefully this makes sense as an approach. The committee and I would welcome any thoughts you may have.

Turning to other matters – The AGM remains outstanding. We will hold this as soon as it is practical. Regards annual subscriptions, there is no plan to collect these at the moment although, should we be able to deliver a lecture programme, we will set a fee which reflects the circumstances we find ourselves in at that time. We do have ongoing overheads, but we can use reserves to absorb those in the short term.

I hope to be in a position to update you further in the near future. Although the vast majority of the membership use e-mail, there are a few who don’t. Please update those you know aren’t on e-mail if you can.

Best wishes

Gary Torbett, President KDHG