Burnham Parish Council are introducing parking restrictions at our Cherry Orchard site. Read on for details of how to obtain your daily free parking permit.

Whilst we weren’t consulted about the planned restrictions, we have been assured that our Learn To Dance students will not have any restrictions – so long as you follow the correct procedures!

What Are The Cherry Orchard Parking Restrictions?

Parking restrictions will be in place at the Cherry Orchard Monday to Friday Sunday, between 7am-7pm, and after 7pm all week.

Free parking between 7am-7pm applies for up to 30 minutes, no return within an hour, unless you have a parking permit from us.

All Learn To Dance students and hirers have access to a tablet where they can enter their registration plate to obtain a permit. This permit then provides un-restricted parking until the end of the day.

What Sessions Will Be Affected?

UPDATE: ALL SESSIONS NOW AFFECTED. PLEASE ENTER YOUR NUMBER PLATE EVERY TIME YOU COME.

You will definitely need a permit if you are attending more than one class/lesson during the day, or will be leaving the Cherry Orchard after 7pm.

Our Monday Weekly Tea Dances are 2 hours long so you must enter your registration details to avoid a fine. The Tuesday Over 50s Session is 90 minutes long and we would recommend also entering your details to be on the safe side.

All other daytime sessions are generally less than an hour but you may wish to enter your details anyway.

How Do I Obtain A Permit?

The parking company have provided us with a tablet that is connected to their system. You will find this tablet in the main studio on the small table in front of the kitchen area.

Upon arrival you just need to tap the screen and enter your car registration plate; which is then sent directly to the parking company.

The permit remains valid until midnight on that day. So you will need to enter your reg each time you arrive.

What If I’m Dropping Off/Collecting Someone?

We have been told there is a 30 minute ‘grace period’ from the moment you first enter the site. However at present there will be a 1 hour no-return policy in place. This obviously doesn’t work for our class lengths and so we have requested that this is reviewed. We will keep you updated as this develops.

At present we would recommend ensuring the student you are dropping off has your number plate to enter into the tablet.

When Do The Cherry Orchard Parking Restrictions Launch?

There has been some confusion from the council as to when these restrictions were actually being launched. We have now received a confirmed date of it going live on Friday 21st January 2022.

If there are any changes to this date we will update this post accordingly.

How To Appeal A PCN

Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) are issued automatically by the parking company’s system if you contravene the Cherry Orchard Parking Restrictions.

We have a limited ability to cancel tickets and will do our best to, so please talk to us before paying any fines.

Should you forget to register your registration number upon arrival, or you believe a PCN has been issued in error, you would need to follow the parking company’s appeals process.

Appeal online at: https://appeals.ce-service.co.uk/
Or by post to:
Civil Enforcement Limited,
Horton House, Exchange Flags,
Liverpool, L2 3PF

Hopefully everything will work swimmingly and this will never be an issue. Unfortunately we had no input into the decision to implement parking restrictions at the Cherry Orchard.

The post Cherry Orchard Parking Restrictions appeared first on Learn To Dance.

Hopefully from April 12th lockdown easing will be on track, allowing our ballroom dance lessons to resume in the studio. However the dates are not set in stone! So we have no guarantees at the moment that we will be able to welcome you back next month.

The guidance does however currently allow personal trainers to provide individuals, and same-household, with 1-to-1 sessions. That is so long as it is outdoors, and social distancing measures are applied.

This got us to thinking, as to whether this was something we could potentially provide as an option now the weather is improving. We are going to therefore trial some outdoor private lessons at the Cherry Orchard during the week.

Where will these outdoor lockdown ballroom dance lessons be held?

There is an overflow car park onsite that is only used during the football season at weekends. The gate is locked at all other times and we are confident that this should work for our purposes.

The car park is a short walk from the main entrance (less than a minute). You can park closer than that in the main car park.

The logistics of erecting a dance floor, that would need to be put away after every session, means we will not be using any type of outdoor dance floor. Instead we are going to rely on the fine gravel-type surface of the car park to allow flowing movement.

It goes without saying that we wouldn’t recommend wearing your dance shoes for these outdoor lockdown ballroom dance lessons!

You should also be aware that there is also the chance of members of the public walking past!

I’m up for trying it, how do I book?

At present only Antony is offering these outdoor dance lessons during our trial. When booking please select ‘outdoor’ and the lesson length required. Existing packages and sessions can be used.

Use the appointment search below to book. You can also choose Zoom lessons if you’d like to have us stream a lesson instead.

Please only book a weekday slot. We may be able to offer weekend slots on the next two Sundays but football resumes after that. Contact us first if you have any questions about potential sessions.

What about bad weather?

Obviously we cannot forecast for short-term changes in weather! But we will have a more flexible cancellation/reschedule policy should the weather take a turn for the worst.

We are happy to teach in all weathers, taking appropriate clothing precautions. However if we feel the surface of the car park would be dangerous we may have to cancel sessions.

Initially we are only thinking of offering these sessions during daylit hours (currently sunset is around 6.15pm). If there is interest in later sessions we can look into lighting options.

With that, you also accept that these outdoor lockdown ballroom dance lessons are taken at your own risk. We will do our best to select an area of the car park that is flat. We cannot however guarantee there won’t be unexpected changes in the surface. Extra care should be taken as the surface conditions may change as you move across the car park.

Why are you providing outdoor lockdown Ballroom Dance lessons?

There is a lot of uncertainty around when we will be permitted to reopen. We’re also still waiting on the detailed guidance to be released.

We feel that this is an option that may appeal to some of our students who are unable to Zoom!

This will also serve as a trial to potentially offering some outdoor group classes. The current roadmap may actually permit these from the end of this month!

We are already receiving bookings for this option and we hope more of you will be able to join us. Otherwise we look forward to welcoming you back to the studio as soon as it is permitted.

About Learn To Dance

Learn To Dance is a Ballroom and Latin American Dance School based in Burnham, Buckinghamshire.

Our dance studio is currently closed due to the Coronavirus pandemic. However we are still looking at innovative ways to keep you dancing. From online streamed classes and private lessons, live free classes on YouTube, and now lockdown ballroom dance lessons outdoors.

You can check out our website, or follow us online, at:

Website: learndance.co.uk
Youtube: youtube.com/learndance
Facebook: facebook.com/learndance
Instagram: instagram.com/learndance
Twitter: twitter.com/learndance

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Enquiries with Burnham Parish Council revealed that the nearest AED (Automated External Defibrillator) would be at Burnham Park Hall, around a 5 minute drive from the studio.  Whilst AEDs have been shown to double the survival rate of someone suffering a sudden cardiac arrest, their effectiveness reduces by around 10% for every minute delay in their usage.

Given that our studio is based within football playing fields and is a hotspot for dog walkers and joggers, we felt the benefit of having an AED outside the studio could not be overlooked if it meant the difference between life or death for someone.

Burnham Parish Council offered to pay for the installation and hosting of the external cabinet if we were able to raise enough to cover the net cost of the equipment and cabinet of £1,366.25.

We looked at a variety of options for how we might raise the funds required, and eventually decided on a fun day of dance sessions on Monday 28th May.

Any excess funds raised would then be donated to the Check Heart Appeal, a fundraising page set up to raise money for C-R-Y (Cardiac Risk in the Young), a charity close to Antony & Emma’s heart.

In the morning we had an American Smooth workshop, a FitSteps taster and a lunchtime Tea Dance; whilst the afternoon saw ‘Singin’ in the Rain’, Bollywood and Charleston inspired workshops.

All of that did mean that Antony had to have at least 5 costume changes!

We received a number of donations, both before and after the day, from those that were unable to attend and we also held a raffle with a variety of prizes including a LearnToDance gift voucher and the top prize of a family photoshoot with Emma-Louise Walton Photography.

The raffle was closed and drawn a week later live on our Facebook Page, although we started to panic when a number of duplicate winners started being drawn (regardless of how much Antony shook and mixed up the tickets) but it evened out in the end!

https://www.facebook.com/learndance/videos/10160843462305221/

Between the fundraising day, raffle and donations LearnToDance raised a total of £1,855.63!

We instructed Burnham Parish Council to order the defibrillator and are pleased to announce that this has now been installed!

We would like to say a massive thank you to everyone involved in the running/administration of the event, everyone that donated or attended the day, and Burnham Parish Council for their support.

Much appreciated,

Antony, Emma and the LearnToDance team

About LearnToDance

LearnToDance is a Ballroom and Latin American Dance School run by husband and wife team Antony & Emma-Louise Holeksa and has been running since 2006.  Classes for all levels and ages, and personal tuition, take place throughout the week, as well as dance breaks and private events.

In 2016 we moved into our own dedicated studio at the Cherry Orchard in Burnham and now offer sessions most days of the week.

About Check Heart Appeal

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