For reporting large gathering

[specksdrugsandsausagerolls]

Name changed for this because it might be outing. My neighbours are horsey and have about 30 acres of land.

I bumped into the husband this morning on a dog walk and asked him what the big marquee was for (they have all kinds of horsey events on there throughout the year - camps etc). He said it was his daughters 30th so they were having a hog roast and disco tomorrow night. He then said me and my partner would be welcome to join if we wanted, I just smiled and thanked him and then as I carried on my dog walk I got more and more irate thinking of all the people coming from all over to my neighbour for this party - I wished I'd said something but honestly I was so surprised they were doing it!
His wife then invited me via FB to the FB event - it has 120 invited with 87 marked as "going".
I'm not a fun sponge, really I'm not, but with coronavirus I think this is wholly unnecessary. I'm also not usually the sort of person to think of reporting people but we're rural, we have been blessed with low numbers, I'm angry they're doing this. WIBU to report them and if not... how?!

If the police go round there will be a sign on the marquee saying no more than 30 inside at any time, there will be dozens of straw bales outside, the barbeque will be outside etc, they will look, take note that the legislation is unlikely to be breached and go away. The family have probably already notified the police of the precautions they are taking to pre-empt any action. This is how private gatherings on private land have been organised this summer - within the law. If you have a gripe it is with the law not this family.

@TryAnotherNickname

Well in my unfortunately direct experience, half the village can repeatedly report 300-odd people plus a sound system, “security”, a convoy of cars and the police won’t do a thing about it. Not enough funding. The only time they came was in April and they broke that party up. It took a catalogue of crimes (some serious enough to leave life changing injuries) to get the house pulled from air bnb. So I think 80 people in farmland for a 30th is not going to do anything for anyone. Leave it.

I think it depends where you live. We're quite rural here and the police have broken up a garden BBQ party reported to them over the summer.

Local police not that busy, in general.

@BilboBercow

I'd go. A hog roast and disco sounds great.

The smoke from the fire, the copious alcohol and the laser lights from the disco will sure as hell do the trick. If I were a wee Coronavirus I would prefer a much nicer environment in which to multiply. And as for pulled-pork.....don't even go there....

You'd be being a massive fun sponge and busybody if you reported. It's not illegal. They'd also know it was you who reported. Absolutely un-neighbourly curtain twitcher behaviour and it sounds like something out of a dictatorship nightmare where neighbours are reporting neighbours to the government for having fun and holding a 30th birthday party.

Most pubs and restaurants will have a similar number of people all in during one day/evening. People are mixing in huge numbers in schools and workplaces as well. Let them have their fun - if you're social distancing, washing your hands etc then you yourself have no risk.
It's debatable whether there's really much of a risk anywhere anymore due to the fact the government here and in the US are admitting that the numbers they published of COVID deaths... only a small percentage actually died from COVID. A lot of road traffic accidents and deaths from other causes was put down as COVID to make the number looks huge and get everybody really scared. Look it up - the Centre For Disease Control in US has admitted that only something like 6% of COVID deaths was actually from COVID itself.

Thanks for all the responses - it's obviously a contentious issue. To answer some questions -

How will I feel if they got a £20k fine? Fucking awful to be honest, really rotten. But then they've made the conscious decision to do this, regardless of the current guidelines.

We're on the edge of quite a large village, the marquee can be seen from the road and there is a well used footpath between our properties that is popular with village dog walkers - I'm sure it has been seen and questioned by a great many people - anyone could report them. Knowing how opinionated our village is, someone probably has, I'm surprised it hasn't ended up on the god awful FB community page yet.

But, there are lots of elderly in our village and I do think it's selfish to have such a big do given the circumstances. Surely there will be lots of people coming from all over and that's what they're trying to avoid?

With regards to the "airy marquee" are you on glue? It's a marquee, with a wooden floor and sides. The windows are plastic, they don't open. It's September and we're northern, I'm fairly confident they won't have any of the sides up. It's a poorly ventilated room at best.

Manolin makes a very good point.

I've attended a couple of events this summer where maximum numbers were exceeded - the hosts were scrupulous about not allowing people inside without using hand sanitiser first, not sharing any serving utensils, etc, etc.

If you neighbour's daughter is 30, he's probably in his 60s.

He'll be worried about catching the virus and I'm sure they will take lots of sensible precautions. If you're really worried about it, why not ask.

"I'd love to come to the party, but do you mind if I just ask how your organising things to be safe as I'm concerned about covid"

It is incredibly selfish.

However I’d feel too bad to report. But it is selfish and I wouldn’t be able to have respect for them, and would probably say something. I’ve put all my big events on hold. Many of my family are practically housebound because they are high risk. Doesn’t feel like we are all in it together, if only some are.

@specsdrugsandsausagerolls NC fail

Can see the dilemma but no, I wouldn’t respond to a party invitation by trying to get the person in trouble with the police. Grit your teeth, ruminate on how selfish it is if you want, and leave it alone.

the hosts were scrupulous about not allowing people inside without using hand sanitiser first, not sharing any serving utensils, etc, etc. that does nothing to prevent airborne infection. Mixing in inside spaces, with music where people have to raise voices, for a period of time is one of the highest risk things you can do, even with washing hands.

About 1/3 of an acre each. I think they'll be okay.

To be honest if they had an event, with low music (not a loud disco), without a tent, completely outside - this would massively cut down the risk. Fresh air helps greatly, as seen by low numbers catching the virus on summer beaches. A marquee could work but only if the sides were up and there was loads of fresh air in.

*"Its a 30th birthday not a rave"

Well what's the difference? That's the third time raves have been mentioned*

Raves normally have a lot more people, and everyone is off their cake on drugs, usually without landowners permission, and leave shedloads of litter. And funnily enough there was no second waves reported after these illegal raves anyway.

Every marquee ive ever been in ever has been drafty as fuck. Theyre older, chances are they will adhere to at least basic hygiene. The risks are minimal. Why not actually ask them if they are providing hand gel etc instead of going all Stasi on them?

If people want to start reporting people for things that actually CAN and DO kill on a daily basis why not sit on a busy road and report all the speeders, drivers texting, parking on zigzags etc. That would provide a lot more benefit to society.

Ha! There is a similar thread on this subject matter, though involves a wedding.

Was thinking that, and recently in scotland a party of 300 got stopped by the police. Wondered if it was the same one.

@vapeinafleshlight thanks!

@Wavescrashingonthebeach the thing about large events, and the reason numbers are restricted, is that they are vulnerable to super spreader events. It is rolling a dice. They will probably be lucky and have no-one with Covid19 attending. However if they are unlucky, and There is one person with COVID19 who is a super spreader, mixed with alcohol and people close to each other speaking loudly over the music, then a high percentage will become infected. Hand sanitizer isn’t going to prevent that.

Something as simple as having loads of fresh air, as in not just the doors to the marquee, fewer people, and no loud disco will massively reduce the risk of a super spreader event.

I don't know there was people like you!! Wow!

Just stay in your little bubble and let people live the life they want. As PPs have said there's 2 camps. The terrified camp and those who just want to go back to normal. Just live and let live.

Report if you want to, but at least have the balls to tell them face to face that you are going to report them first.

Then ensure you live a perfect life from that day on.

Just live and let live. the irony!

@KeepingPlain

Ha! There is a similar thread on this subject matter, though involves a wedding.

Was thinking that, and recently in scotland a party of 300 got stopped by the police. Wondered if it was the same one.

This was the party in Scotland www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-54013583

I find it astonishing that people would host / attend parties at the moment

@MadameBlobby

I would report them, yes.

It’s this kind of stuff and people ignoring rules that’s causing cases to increase and local restrictions to come back into place.

I would too. People being selfish like this is prolonging the pain for everyone, it's not on

Op leave it

@GreyShadow I'm in neither of those camps FYI. I hated lockdown, I had a baby at the beginning of lockdown, I was at home, alone with a toddler and a newborn, it did a number on my mental health.
I have grudgingly stuck to the guidance even though it meant friends and family missed out on the first precious weeks of my daughter's life. I did it to protect more vulnerable members of our society like the guidance suggested.
I've gone out to restaurants and into shops, I'm not scared of the virus affecting me, I'm concerned for it affecting more vulnerable.
But if it makes you happier, you can paint me as the neurotic germ-phobe.
I won't report them because you're right, I'm not "that" sort of person.
But a gathering of almost 90 people in a marquee when we're having local spikes and lockdowns is just mindlessly selfish in my opinion. I'm surprised so many people on here don't seem to understand why I'm annoyed.

"Raves normally have a lot more people, and everyone is off their cake on drugs, usually without landowners permission, and leave shedloads of litter"

Pmsl, that's only the raves you read about in the daily mail. As far as the virus is concerned this is exactly the same anyway