All stacked up and no place to go
BY DI SNEDDON
Singleton Diggers manager Michael Titow with some of the 260 seats in storage, out of use as the club sticks to Covid NSW guidelines.
New day, new rules – the way of life in these Covid times.
Singleton York Street Diggers operations manager Michael Titow likes to be organised and follows the rules to a T but even he has been challenged by the ever-changing Covid rules in relation to the operation of the 7,500 member club.
“The rules are changing in the blink of an eye and we genuinely want to stick to them for the safety of our members and our staff,” Mr Titow said.
Overnight, back in March, the club learned it had to shut in less than 24 hours resulting in 40 casual, permanent and permanent part time staff being stood down.
The Club’s board of directors, realising the impact this would have on staff, voted to continue to pay staff for the following fortnight, after that reducing this wage bill by 50 per cent while jobkeeper came into effect.
The Thursday before the club was to open on June 1, staff were brought in to be trained on the new ways of operation, things like hand sanitizing and table service.
“We are also doing temperature checks on people before they can enter the club for the safety of staff and our patrons, it really is as much about our staff as anything else,” Mr Titow said.
“We want to assure our members that our venues are a safe place to come to.”
In the meantime the club started to provide takeaway meals in the fourth week of the lockdown but it has been a ‘slowly-slowly’ approach.
The club has 800 full capacity at the York Street venue and 650 at Singleton Heights so the maximum of 150 patrons at each venue at any one time is a significant decrease in potential revenue.
In a bid to stay connected with members, Mr Titow has instigated a weekly on-line raffle with 20 $50 shop local cards generated by Singleton Business Chamber.
“This really is a time when the local community needs to support one another,” Mr Titow said.
*This story was published on Friday, June 19 2020.