News and Events -----------

Every year the Brussels Women's Club (BWC) raises funds for a couple of selected charities: one a Belgium based charity and the second a charity based in a developing country. 2021 is no different and, with the ongoing impact of COVID19, some might say it is now more critical than ever to support charitable organisations and activities. BWC’s 2021 initiative launched on 1 April and is entitled 'Brussels to Cairo'.

What is the BWC fund-raising initiative for 2021? BWC aims to travel 10 000 km, exercising for Charity, from Brussels to Cairo and back. Two teams of 10 BWC members, one from the BWC main club and the other from the BWC Golf section, will be exercising their way from Brussels, home of charity Rolling Douche, to Cairo, home of charity FACE, and back again.

Obviously, as Covid 19 restrictions are still in place, this 10 000 km journey will be a virtual trip, with each team member contributing about 1 000 kilometres to their team total, as well as carrying on their typical day to day activities. How will they do this? It is up to the individual team members!

They can walk, run, cycle, swim, golf or do anything they choose, as long as it is measurable in terms of distance, constitutes exercise, is not part of their normal daily routine, and is under their own efforts. They can do it individually, get together with others or both; again, it is their decision.

Each week, individuals' kilometres will be collated, and the two teams' progress will be marked on a map on the newly refurbished BWC website so you can see how far the teams have travelled and where they are on their journeys. The chosen routes are marked on the map above and will take the teams through many different countries and cultures. Interesting information about the team’s location for each milestone they reach will be published on the BWC website. You can follow the teams’ progress on the BWC website from April 2021.

This is an inspiring initiative that will raise money for good causes and - as a bonus - boost the fitness of BWC members. Find out more on the Charities page of the BWC website including how you can donate.

About the charities

Rolling Douche (Belgium) provides free personal hygiene services to homeless people through converted motorhomes specially equipped with decent sanitary facilities where everyone can take a shower. By bringing this valuable facility to homeless people, Rolling Douche can reach homeless people in a way that traditional static facilities cannot. Rolling Douche assists homeless people to maintain their dignity, a vital element in helping them to remain part of society.

FACE (Cairo) helps orphans, street children and victims of abuse by offering services that address their needs. FACE's priority is to place children in a family, in society. Family reintegration is a priority, and institutional placement is the last resort. FACE aims to ensure the quality and sustainability of its activities and therefore invests heavily in training and capacity building with its local staff.

The vast majority of us are eagerly awaiting our Covid vaccination. But what is the process in Belgium? What can we expect? How will we be notified? Priority for vaccination has been for care home residents and frontline health workers but now the invitations to be ‘jabbed’ are starting to be sent out to the public. BBCA council member Alan Davis got an invite on Wednesday 17 March and received his first dose of the Pfizer vaccine just two days later. BBCA News talked to him about the process.

“I received an email with all the links to book an appointment on Wednesday afternoon - the 17th,” says Alan. "At first there seemed to be an issue with booking appointments, perhaps the system was overloaded initially, but with some persistence I got through and managed to book for the Friday. I was sent an eTicket by email with a Barcode and QR code with both of my dates.” Alan recommends that people show persistence if the booking system seems initially slow.

The initial email to Alan was in French and Dutch, but you can find translations of its content in over 20 languages (including English) here. This first email contains advice and information on Covid and the vaccination process and a link and code to book an appointment. Alan chose to attend the Heysel vaccination centre because, once he was allowed in the system, it had appointments for the Friday.

Letters are also issued, in addition to, or instead of email. Alan also received a letter some six days after the initial email. The letter also outlines the procedure and indicates that people unable to access the internet should ask a family or a friend to go online and make the appointment for them or to call to make the appointment booking.

If people have technical issues accessing appointments, there is a dedicated helpline, but please do not hesitate to contact BBCA if you need additional help as we can link you to people who have gone through the process already and/ or can help you with making your appointment online.

Once the appointments are booked the eTicket invite is sent. Alan’s invite is shown below. He got the Pfizer injection – the trade name for the Pfizer vaccine is Comirnaty. The Astra Zeneca COVID19 vaccine has the trade name Vaxzevria.

In Brussels, the eTicket email also comes with instructions on how to access free travel to get to your nominated vaccination centre via STIB/MIVB using the Eventpass option on their ticket machines. “I have an over 65 pass, so I didn’t need to use that option,” says Alan.

Heysel centre

Alan was impressed by the smooth operation of the vaccination centre at Heysel.

“It was generally a first-class example of Belgian bureaucracy at is best,” he explains. “You must have your ID or residents’ card with you and the invitation. You are controlled on entering the building with the appointment system seeming to limit arrivals to match the flow throughout the whole process.”

“You register within 15 minutes of arrival, then at Heysel there were five vaccination lines to select, with roughly three people in each line before you,” he continues. “A student called me through, asked a few basic health questions, and then sleeve up and done.”

“There was no undue wait or overcrowding. The authorities can clearly cope with the flow and looking at the space at the Heysel they could easily scale up many times as supply increases,” says Alan. “There is a 30-minute wait as you leave, I guess to catch any immediate reactions to the jab, and you get a biscuit and a Christmas chocolate while you wait. Then the registration process again to log your departure – all in all the whole experience, for me, door-to-door took around two and a half hours.”

Tech driven

The eTicket for the second dose appointment comes with the first, dated and coded, and this appointment must be confirmed via the website.

Alan is concerned that the process is very tech driven, which could be a challenge for some people who are not so IT literate. “There are phone numbers too in the email invite to confirm appointments if you cannot access the website. You are also permitted to bring someone with you if you require assistance, but they must have their ID with them and, of course, there is wheelchair access and people available to carry you up the stairs if you can’t manage yourself,” explains Alan.

Any side effects to report? “Only a slightly tender upper arm,” concludes Alan.

Do not forget that the full protection provided by the vaccines takes 10-14 days to develop after the initial injection, so keep safe in the interim.

More information on the COVID-19 situation in Belgium can be found here.

15 top notch four-person teams took part in our first virtual Quiz Night on the evening of 24 March to raise funds for our charity partners. Over six rounds of tough questions, intellectual battle was commenced and the eventual winners – by just one point – were the ‘Brain Drain again’ team.

Stuart Cummings was our quizmaster for the night with Lilian Eilers providing technical support at the Zoom controls to shuffle the various teams in and out of their Breakout rooms.

The six rounds covered Geography, Science and Nature, Arts and Literature, Food and Drink, History, and a final Music Round.

The 15 teams represented the broad nature of the BBCA community with teams from our four charities: the Community Help Service (CHS), the British Charitable Fund (BCF), the Wednesday Club with two teams from the Royal British Legion. Two teams were also fielded by the Brussels Women’s Club, and one team from the Royal Brussels British Football Club who were the eventual winners: Brain Drain Again!

15 teams was the maximum for practical and technology reasons, so our apologies to those who tried to get involved after entry had to close.

Prizes for the winning team – in the form of shopping vouchers – were provided by our friends at Stonemanor. Our Events sub-committee led by Nikki Hayes also provided ‘thank you’ gifts to Stuart and Lilian.

And our thanks to all involved. The evening was great fun, and we hope to repeat the event – or something similar – in the not-too-distant future!

Updated 25 March. After a morning of discussions with the various regional governments, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo announced today (24 March 2021) the new measures, which will come into force for a period of four weeks.

The committee noted a new high seven-day average of 221 hospitalisations and the doubling of the number of cases every two weeks. It also noted an increase in the positivity rate last week, with teenagers (10-19 years old) and the 40-64 age group accounting for the largest increases. Most of the recent COVID outbreaks are in education and work.

“The British variant of coronavirus has become dominant [in Belgium]," said De Croo. "Intensive care units do not know how much longer they can keep going. The nature of the virus has changed."

Based on these findings, the Belgian Concertation Committee has decided on a set of temporary measures to reverse this upward trend. 

They are:

1. Gatherings of up to 4 people outside

Groups of people (children up to 12 years old not included) can meet outdoors with a maximum of four people only - down from 10. Households with more than four people can of course move in larger numbers.

2. Non-essential stores by appointment only

Non-essential stores can only welcome customers by appointment, and the maximum number of customers that can be simultaneously on site depends on the size of the store, but the absolute maximum is 50 people. Two people from the same household can be in the store at the same time - but preferably shop alone.

Home deliveries and "click-and-collect" are still possible, provided there is no physical contact and the customer does not enter the store.

Essential stores (including grocery stores, pharmacies, but also hygiene products stores, fabric stores, florists and nurseries, telecom stores and bookstores) can continue to welcome customers without appointment. 

Update: The Ministry  has now specified the establishments or parts of establishments that can remain open. They are:

• Food stores, including night shops
• Hygiene and care products stores
• Pet food stores
• Pharmacies
• Newsagents and bookstores
• Petrol stations
• Telecommunications stores
• Medical device stores
• DIY stores
• Garden centers and nurseries
• Flower and plant shops
• Wholesale stores for professionals
• Retail businesses that sell clothing fabrics
• Haberdashery and stationery stores
• Service providers such as car washes, ice cream parlours and real estate agents can continue to operate.

3. Closure of non-medical contact professions

Non-medical contact trades must close. This includes (amongst others):

• Beauty salons;
• Non-medical pedicure salons;
• Nail salons;
• Massage parlours;
• Hairdressers and barbers;
• Tattoo and piercing parlours.

4. Youth and education

Classes at all levels of education (primary and secondary education, part-time artistic education, higher education and social advancement) are suspended from 29 March to 2 April inclusive. Nursery schools remain open. Examinations can, however, take place during the week preceding the Easter holidays.

Between 29 March and 2 April, day care will be provided for children whose parents perform functions where teleworking is not possible and for people who are unable to look after the children. Classes will resume after the Easter holidays, on Monday 19 April, if possible entirely face-to-face for the secondary level.

Youth camps and extracurricular activities remain authorised, in small groups of no more than 10 young people, and without overnight stays.

5. Stricter telecommuting controls

Controls on compliance with the teleworking obligation will be strengthened. Employers must keep a register specifying who is present at the workplace and when. Public administrations are also required to respect teleworking obligations.

6. Non-essential travel remains prohibited

Non-essential foreign travel remains prohibited during the Easter holidays. Border controls will be significantly strengthened.

7. Events

The maximum number of participants for static demonstrations on public roads is limited to 50.

8. Importance of 'golden' ground rules

The Concertation Committee reiterated the importance of the following elements:

• Respect by the population for the sanitary measures in force - social distancing, facemasks, handwashing etc;
• A strict control of compliance with these rules by the police and inspection services;
• Compulsory teleworking as well as the strict control of its application by the inspection services;
• Measures taken by local authorities to avoid crowding in high-traffic areas.

This ministerial decree will remain in force until April 25 inclusive.

You can find the full notice (in French) here. 

In the latest in their series on expat groups in Belgium, the Bulletin’s Sarah Crew talked to BBCA Chair Glenn Vaughan and Vice-chair Tim Reynolds about Belgium, Brexit and what we are doing in and around Brussels.

You can read her interview article here 'Beyond Brexit, the Brussels British Community Association continues to support citizens’ rights' and listen to the full interview here.

The interview will also be included in the Bulletin’s Bruzz radio extract just after midday on Sunday 28 March and on Bulletin Radio on Monday 29 March at 7pm. Enjoy!

ICYMI hidden in the Budget presented to the House of Commons on 3 March was an inkling that UK citizens who have lived abroad for more than 15 years will, at long last, get the right to vote in general elections.

The announcement was made in the fine print of the Budget and allocates some £2.5m to fund the change. Paragraph 2.41 of the Treasury Red Book, which sets out details of the government's planned spending says: "Overseas Electors - the government is providing an additional £2.5m to remove the limit preventing British citizens who live overseas from voting after 15 years."

It is believed that legislation to effect the change will be laid before Parliament later this year. Successive governments have promised to change the law, passed in 2002, which removes UK citizens who have lived abroad for more than 15 years from the electoral roll.

Old constituency

British citizens living overseas are currently entitled to be registered to vote in UK Parliamentary elections for up to 15 years in the constituency they were registered before leaving the UK. The proposed changes will introduce 'votes for life'.

A House of Commons ‘Research Briefing on Overseas voters’ was published the day after the Budget and provides details of the provisions relating to overseas voters in the Representation of the People Act 1985 and the proposals for change. It also summarises earlier attempts to change the 15-year rule.

Who are we?

The Brexpats Hear our voice group - a Citizens’ Rights campaigning and support group that campaigns for the preservation of the rights of British nationals in the EU – has just published the results of a survey they undertook to understand better who the British living outside of the UK are.

Not surprisingly the found that "They can’t be defined by one simple label, the narrative has to change, they deserve better, they deserve far better". You can access their report here. 

This month’s UNICEF Anagram Quiz features well-known artists as the answers. As ever, the quiz is set and organised by quiz-maestro supreme Stuart Cummings, who is also setting the questions for the BBCA Quiz night on 24 March.

The answers for UNICEF quiz will be names of well-known artists. You can download the entry sheet here. On the entry sheet for each question the number of letters corresponding to each clue is in parentheses and the number in bold represents the total number of letters in the name of the artist.

As usual a future sporting event is used for the tie-break question and this month you are asked to guess the total number of points scored by the teams playing at home on the scheduled last day of the Six Nations rugby championship: March 20, 2021. The three games to be played on that day are Scotland vs. Italy, Ireland vs. England and France vs. Wales - the home teams are in bold.

Prize winners

The winner and ‘Artist Anagram Quiz Champion’ will be the person who has the highest score and whose tie-break answer (if applicable) is closest to the actual number of points scored by the home teams.

The winner will receive three bottles of Saint Emilion Grand Cru. There will also be a prize of a bottle of champagne for the person whose tie-break answer is closest to the actual number of point scored by the three home teams..

All entries for the March UNICEF Quiz must be emailed to unicefquiz@gmail.com by 1.00pm Brussels time on Saturday 20 March.

The suggested entry fee of EUR 10 should be paid directly to the Ex-Pats for UNICEF account: BE83 3630 2680 8315 with the reference ‘Anagram Quiz March’.

Even if you do not wish to participate in the quiz, consider making a donation to UNICEF. During the pandemic charities have struggled to maintain levels of support across a wide spectrum of activities. All the money raised by UNICEF Belgium this year will go to supporting the WASH (WAter, Sanitation and Hygiene) project in Rwanda.

Please feel free to distribute this announcement widely to your friends, colleagues and fellow quiz team members.

You can access the Quiz sheet here.

On Wednesday 24 March 2021, the BBCA will be holding its first online ZOOM Quiz. The Quiz will last for around two hours and will kick-off at 19:30 Brussels time, but participants will be asked to join online no later than 19:00 to go through the technical/logistical aspects of the event.

Our Quiz master for the evening will be Stuart Cummings who, as many of you will know, has been running regular monthly quizzes in support of UNICEF in Belgium for several years. Over the COVID lockdown period Stuart has also run web-based quizzes that the BBCA has helped to promote.

To take part in the BBCA Quiz, an entry fee of €8 per person will be charged with all proceeds being donated to the BBCA Community charities (British Charitable Fund, CHS, Royal British legion, and the Wednesday Club).

Team event

The BBCA Quiz will be run as a team event with general sessions (where everyone will be online together) and break-out sessions (where teams will be able to discuss their answers in private ‘virtual rooms’). The topics covered will include Geography, History, General Knowledge, Music and one or two Picture Rounds.

Team members may be, but do not need to be, under the same roof; however, the maximum number of members in any team is four. You can organise your own team or enter individually and ask to be allocated to a team.

Prizes

Prizes will be awarded to the members of the winning team in the form of coupons for Stonemanor. We are all incredibly sad that Stonemanor has been experiencing so many problems with the new post Brexit export/import rules and would like to encourage as many people as possible to shop with them when they return to business as usual – hopefully in the not-too-distant future (see the BBCA article published on 26 February).

The BBCA Quiz Night is an opportunity for you to spend a fun evening with a team of friends and/or family.

How to enter

If you wish to take part in this Quiz, and we sincerely hope that you do, please inform Nikki Hayes (by email to: hayesnicola6@gmail.com) mentioning, where applicable:

(1) Your team name, team captain and the names and email addresses of the members of your team (if you have already a ready-formed team), or

(2) Your name and email address (if you are joining as an individual or a group of less than four people) so that you can be allocated to a team.

To participate and receive the Zoom invite for this event, please send the above information and transfer your participation fee of €8 per person to the BBCA account BE38 3631 6982 1172, with the reference ‘BBCA Quiz 2021’, no later than 19 March 2021.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Stonemanor has been supplying British delicacies and favourite foodstuffs to anglophone and cosmopolitan Belgian consumers since the early 1980s. Over the years, the company has grown within its flagship store in Everberg, and also through its newer outlet in Sint-Genesius-Rode, to bring its customers the very best of British produce. But recently, Stonemanor has been forced to temporarily close due to Brexit-related supply issues. Now as supplies are gradually returning, we caught up with store manager Ryan Pearce to see how Brexit has affected the store and what the future holds.

January and February 2021 have been difficult months for the business. Despite extensive preparations, a wave of unexpected logistics issues has hit supply chains out of the UK in the New Year. Due to low stocks, on the weekend of 6 and 7 February the two Stonemanor stores were forced to temporarily close for the first time in their 39-year history and a further week-long closure will end today (26 February). But we can reveal that the first significant deliveries of 2021 have now arrived at the ‘manor’ and shelves and fridges have been partially refilled.

The store worked to stockpile before Christmas with three or four major deliveries a week rather than the usual two, but the plans were subverted by higher than anticipated sales. “We had a very good run up to Christmas,” says Ryan. “Which was good for the business, but not so good for our stockpiling plan. As fast as we were filling the shelves, they were emptying!”

Fortunately, the week after Christmas two full deliveries temporarily refilled shelves and stock room reserves. Ryan and the Stonemanor team had anticipated a possible two week delay due to the end of the Brexit transition, but added delays again resulted in reducing stock levels as January turned into February.

Now, at last, the store has received deliveries from some smaller suppliers, including sausages and bacon, cheese and tea, and has arranged to receive one full truck a week from Ireland. The first full Irish shipment will be arriving early next week – it is setting off today from the Emerald Isle.

“This arrangement will continue until at least our usual UK suppliers are able to confidently export to the EU again,” explains Tom.

What was the problem?

Essentially the issue is new paperwork and understanding the needs of import and export systems now the UK is a third country outside the EU single market and custom union. Normally, Stonemanor works with Ramsden International as their main logistics partner – a company with decades of experience in international food supply.

“We placed orders for delivery in the first week of January with Ramsden and they were confident that deliveries would be made,” says Ryan. However, despite assurances from UK government authorities, issued to Ramsdens and other logistics firms on Christmas Day, that the use of meursing codes (used to determine which commodity code and how much duty is applicable) would not be required to enable export, in practise in the New Year it turned out they were needed.

With up to 22,000 product lines on the shelves of the stores, full itemisation and correct customs coding of all the items in a large, mixed consignment is not a trivial matter. And everything must be double-checked and 110% correct before orders can be released to avoid delays, or worse, rejection during border checks.

There has been a huge learning curve for Ramsden and Stonemanor. The store also runs its own truck alongside the Ramsden service for some items. “We have now set up our own master file of commodity codes,” says Ryan. “Once we have got all products finalised and validated then the supply issues should ease.”

Consequences?

Obviously, the delay and extra paperwork has a cost, and this is yet to be fully quantified. In addition, in the short term there may be changes to the stores offer. “Waitrose products will be limited for a while,” explains Ryan. “We use our own truck for them but are focusing on getting the main Ramsden supply line right first.”

Importing chilled meat products is also now problematic from the UK. So where are we to get our British bangers? “We are still able to import frozen sausages,” says Ryan. “But not chilled. There are thoughts that some sausage recipes – like a Cumberland with a certain herb content – could make it through the import regulations. We are hoping this will be an opportunity for UK producers to innovate.” Or alternatively, at the moment, it is an opportunity for Irish suppliers to step in.

While we wait for the new model UK Export Sausage some other services traditionally offered by Stonemanor will need to be re-evaluated once the basic logistics for groceries are in place.

The UK post service has been an extremely popular free service run by Stonemanor. “We sell British stamps and have provided a free service to take postal items back to UK,” says Ryan. “But that service is currently suspended due to the uncertainty over the transport links.” And the long-term future of the service could be problematic too, due to the need to know the customs status – and therefore have correct declarations and paperwork – for any post taken back to the UK. “We will need to see what we can do here,” says Ryan. “Obviously, we don’t want our trucks being turned back because of a post item that doesn’t have the right documentation.”

Similarly, the store sells its magazines on a sale or return basis, but that requires regular deliveries to ensure timely return. In addition, the Argos catalogue service is currently suspended while the logistics are being sorted.

Food focus

Ryan’s full focus now is on getting the food side of the business back on track with regular predictable deliveries. “We will need to scrutinise how we operate the Argos service and re-evaluate before, hopefully, relaunching it. The food side of the supply chain now looks promising with the trucks moving. We hope to soon return to business as near our previous normal as possible,” he concludes.

For the latest information on the supply situation, visit the Stonemanor website or Facebook page.

The implementation of the Withdrawal Agreement (WA) is now underway and the vast majority of British citizens resident in Europe on or before 31 December 2020 will be able to obtain their new residence documentation under the WA without difficulty. However, our friends in the British in Europe campaign group are hearing of some issues across different EU countries and have compiled a summary of what you can do if you hit a bump in the road.

The new British in Europe summary

• Explains the circumstances under which you may be refused a right of residence under the WA
• Outlines what the WA and the EU Commission’s Guidance Note say about refusal of, or restrictions to, your right of residence, and
• Provides you with some resources which may help if you are encountering difficulties or you think you may do so.

You can find the full summary here.