During February and March 2020 the world and now South Africa has been overtaken by the Covid-19 Coronavirus pandemic. We are concerned and there are high level of anxieties about the future trajectory of the disease and its likely impact. We must think about the exposure of our members in public spaces and follow the advice about social distancing. Many of our members are older and we want to protect our staff. We have decided to adapt our activities to be sensible over the coming weeks. We are switching focus slightly. We held an emergency Board of Management meeting on  17th March to cover all bases for the JHF and try to stay on top of things in a fluid situation.

Operation of the JHF

• Eira will continue to run the JHF office at Northwards and connect with members by phone (011 482 3349) and email (mail@joburgheritage.co.za). We are not accessible to visitors.
• The Resource Centre (Monday and Thursday mornings) will only run on a skeleton staff in order to cut risks. Staff who normally travel by taxi must stay at home. We shall answer telephone and email queries. We are closed to visitors.
• We shall try to increase the flow of communications, articles and writing by email dispatch and urge you to supply an email if you are not already on our database.
• We wish our staff and members great patience and sustained good health during this pandemic. We shall emerge strengthened.
• We shall be postponing some of the tours for March and April until we know more. Our tour to the Javett Centre scheduled for 21st March has been postponed.
• We have already announced the cancellation and hence rescheduling of our Easter Bonnet Tea fun fund raiser event in April.
• Our Glenshiel date will need to be positioned in the third or fourth quarter. Our Noordgesig tour for 25 April must be postponed.
• We hope to retain the Eduardo Villa house visit but will advise in due course.
• JHF has decided that its loyal members should not be deprived of exploring their city’s fascinating history while at home, and so will be publishing a series of articles on the Heritage Portal during this period. JHF contributors and members of the JHF Board of Management are: Brett MacDougall, Kathy Munro, Flo Bird, SJ De Klerk and we hope to have inputs from a number of new writers in the next few weeks.  
• We shall keep you informed by email as we make sensible decisions. We hope to switch to small group activities, more outdoor activities - possibly more hikes. Walks in the Wilds are possible. We also encourage our members to consider volunteering to help others. Should you yourself need help we are a community of people and friends.

All queries can be directed to Eira Bond in the JHF office (011 482 3349) or Kathy Munro via email (kathy@zimstone.co.za).