Reading between the lines 

Looking for patterns in what is otherwise routine detail can sometimes be interesting.

When we introduced midweek daytime practices in 2006 we didn’t know how much support there would be so we sent out invitations and only confirmed the practice when we knew there would be enough people present. Occasionally we had to cancel, which avoided anyone turning up and being disappointed. We did the same when we introduced Surprise practices, and more recently Elementary practices. The diary on the website initially shows ‘provisional’ and then either ‘confirmed’ or ‘cancelled’ for each such event.

Those labels are still on the website so we can compare what happened to practices in different years. With the current interest in the impact of Covid I looked at 2019, 2020 and the first half of 2023. I looked at weekday practices, Surprise/Advanced practices and Elementary practices. I didn’t look at Youth practices where other factors were different between the years and I didn’t look at Saturday practices, where we don’t use the same system.

In 2019 under 10% of practices were cancelled (2 out of 25 planned) but in 2022 there 28% were cancelled (13 out of 46 planned). In the first half of 2023 the figure is 16% (4 out of 25 planned). That looks as if we are getting back towards pre-pandemic levels, but the overall figures don’t tell the whole story. All of the cancellations in 2023 were Advanced practices (4 out of 6 planned) whereas only 1 was cancelled in 2019. That’s a significant change to a key element of the mix of practices we provide. We need to understand the factors behind it. Reading between the lines

  John Harrison (July 2023)

  Article originally printed in the Summer 2023 Sonning Deanery Branch Newsletter,