With the sun shining, lockdown easing, open-air markets & other venues opening, we thought you might like an update on this year’s Wickham Festival.
First & foremost, the health & safety of all our artists, audience, staff & suppliers along with our local Wickham community must come first. Our Festival can only go-ahead if it’s felt safe for it do so in 10 weeks time.
At present, no mass gatherings are allowed anywhere in the UK due to Government restrictions but the Government’s ‘roadmap’ suggests many venues will be allowed to re-open from early July.
Our view remains that if Government restrictions are sufficiently relaxed in time, our Wickham Festival will go-ahead in August as planned.
If Government restrictions are not relaxed in time, our Festival will be postponed to 5th-8th August 2021.
We have had constructive discussions with the local authority about staging a ‘Covid-Secure’ Festival and are submitting our detailed proposals for their consideration this week.
All the scientific advice is that people are at far less risk of catching the virus outdoors than indoors. Our proposals for a ‘Covid-Secure’ Festival reflect this.
We know some artists especially those from abroad won’t be able to attend due to travel restrictions but we still have a great line-up in place for what may be the only festival you can attend this summer.
If it’s felt safe for people to leave their houses and enjoy the great outdoors again by August, we’re sure many people will be keen to do so. That said, we recognise there may be other people unwilling or unable to do so.
If our Wickham Festival does go-ahead in August we will allow anyone unable to attend the option of rolling-over your tickets to next year at no extra cost.
If our Festival does not go-ahead in August, all ticket-holders will be able to roll-over tickets to 2021. Refunds will also be available to those unable to attend our 2021 dates (5th-8th August 2021).
Wickham is run on a voluntary ‘not-for-profit’ basis with a shorter ‘build’ period than many bigger festivals. The local licensing authority are content for us to adopt a ‘wait & see’ policy as the situation develops. Crucially, our Medical Team are able and willing to provide our usual 24/7 medical cover without taking resources away from the NHS or other emergency services.
For all these reasons we can afford to wait a bit longer to see how the situation develops. We will keep alive the hope of staging this year’s Festival for as long as we can but will have to
take a final decision by 1st July at the very latest.
We hope this information is helpful to you. We will update it when anything changes. If you have any queries do please email us via eastfest@talk21.com and we’ll try to help.
Finally, may we thank you for your continued support at a very difficult & worrying time for all of us. While Government lockdown restrictions remain in place, please stick to them. Stay safe. We look forward to seeing you again at Wickham be it this August or in a year’s time.
