Autumn Newsletter 2020

Welcome to the autumn update from the team at Somerset Prepared. We hope that everyone has had a great summer and had a chance to enjoy the sunshine!

It’s been an unusual year so far for us all, but as we say goodbye to summer and look towards the coming winter, it's a good time to review our own personal, community and business preparations for dealing with emergencies, particularly in the COVID-19 context. Have you got arrangements in place that could support you in the most challenging of circumstances? If so that's great, why not have a look over them to check they're still relevant and up to date. If not it's never too late to start! Have a look at our Get Prepared pages to help you along the way. We also have an exciting event in October to help communities improve preparedness. See below for more details!

Best wishes,

Somerset Local Authorities' Civil Contingencies Unit

Somerset Prepared Event

The annual Community Resilience event is moving online! From Tuesday 20th to Thursday 22nd October, Somerset Prepared is hosting a free virtual event featuring films and interactive training sessions to help communities be better prepared for the coming winter. Films and pre-recorded videos will be available after the event, but to attend the Webinars, please book! To find out more and sign up for training sessions, visit the Somerset Prepared Event page on our website.

Preparedness Month

The annual #30Days30WaysUK preparedness campaign to improve preparedness throughout September has been successful, with great outreach and publicity. Each day had a preparedness theme, with helpful tips and links on how to improve preparedness. If you missed it, have a look at our @SomersetPrepare twitter. Just because September was preparedness month, it doesn’t mean that we should stop improving preparedness!

Volunteering

Spark Somerset is a local charity which runs a volunteer service and provides free advice, training and support to local charities and community organisations. Throughout the pandemic, Spark have been supporting both covid-19 response groups and individual volunteers to respond. At the beginning of lockdown, they launched the Corona Helpers website, which connected over 1,300 volunteers with covid-19 response activities and enabled vulnerable people to request help from their local group.

They have recently welcomed a new Community Development Worker who will focussing on response to the pandemic and will be available to provide ongoing support and advice to Covid groups.

Visit www.sparksomerset.org.uk or email support@sparksomerset.org.uk for further information.

COVID-19

For information on the latest National and Local information relating to Coronavirus, small business grants, NHS advice and useful links, go to: https://www.somerset.gov.uk/coronavirus/

We also encourage everyone to download the NHS COVID-19 App, the fastest way to see if you’re at risk from Coronavirus