Council have cancelled all events for rest of the year

[Beebityboo]

I've been sent an email from the council stating all large outdoor (and obviously indoor) events for the rest of the year are cancelled. No funfairs, no bonfire night, no Christmas celebrations. I know that safety is more important and I understand the decision but I'm still so sad. I feel rather hopeless tonight. I keep expecting to wake up and it will all be over .

I once worked on the events team for a council, only a very small number of council run events make the actual council money, most cost money or are neutral. Right now they'd need to start committing to a marketing programme for autumn events, booking suppliers who may not be fully refundable etc. Council events cancelled last minute are very expensive as the money is paid out but then no money comes back in, by cancelling at this stage gives them some security.

Sadly, I'm not surprised. It will be a case of there being very little way to run the events with adequate distancing. Plus the money they cost to put on would not be made back so it isn't 'worth' it cost wise.

I teach in a secondary school and we have been told there will be no trips out in the Autumn term. Plus no things like the school disco for Y7. It's a real shame for the kids

The plus point for me at the moment is that my hairdresser has booked me in for 11th July

Well at least we get to know where that handcart is heading....

It's like @Jaxhog said, councils have no money, events cost money, people are losing jobs, the government has pumped millions into furlough schemes that has to be paid back so sorry I don't care there might not be bonfires or Christmas lights, people's safety and the economy are more important
we live in a wet damp country that cooperatives upon, winter in the UK is a huge risk of infection so mass gatherings like Christmas lights are not essential
Get a grip and think of the country and world outside your own four walls, this isn't going to go away overnight

*covid damn you spell check

I think what you're seeing, OP, could be the result of a mindset as much as anything else. IME, at least in our area, private enterprises work towards making things happen, whereas the LA seeks to find reasons they can't

We all realise that Covid has brought challenges, but predictably it's too often being used as an excuse for the inertia which already existed, with the usual "budgetary" thing tacked on for a little pathos

Ironic, really, considering the almost criminal waste so often sanctioned, not to mention the vast amounts they've brought in while "double dipping" through the inappropriate furloughing of many staff

Such events take a lot of planning and resources. Many staff who would be involved are currently being prioritised on essential services or furloughed. Likewise external contractors and emergency services cannot commit to work yet.

It’s shite, isn’t it? But who knows, different, smaller events might be planned instead if things continue to improve.

It sounds so petty but I’m gutted that there won’t be a classic car show in our train station car park this summer. My DS is 2.5 and obsessed with car badges. He only needs some random ones like Wolsely and Pontiac and he’ll have ticked off everything in his I Spy Car Badges book!

I wouldn't be going to those kind of events anyway as I'd consider them too risky. there is a spike in our town already and talks of a potential full lock down being ordered from central government. We are in this for the long haul for definite.

I would also add I have known lots of people badly affected, one on a ventilator and a few dead. I'm wouldn't take my chances with any kind of crowded event for a long time to come.

Think most of the cancellations are about cancelling before costs are incurred, because it costs more to cancel nearer the event. Until we know how seasonal Covid is it would be prudent not to incur avoidable costs.

I'm involved in an indoor smallish sport, I'm assuming our first competitions will be at dedicated owned venues and those that are held in hired venues will either be booked at short notice or wait until it is gone (vaccine).

Council here have only just started cutting the grass, never mind events .... They are insisting they had to change all council labourers to grave diggers - they’re now building a brand new graveyard down the road with space for a few hundred and have plans for strip graves if needed . Insisting on FB they had to arrange all this, because Covid19 ...

So definitely no events . Grass is up to knees in parts, school playground is in a mess, all other maintenance stopped . They even condemned us for planting flowers outdoors four weeks ago , said it wasn’t at all safe to do that yet .

Very, very difficult .

Yes, I feel the same about events in schools too. It's going to be a very dry year

no trick or treating either

always at least one silver lining

Oh piss off @FredaFox people are still allowed to be gutted that things they’d have looked forward to have been cancelled, even if they know it’s necessary because we’ll be in the eleventy billionth wave and PEOPLE ARE DYING DONCHA KNOW

Until we have a functional community test trace and isolate system up and running no crowd events such as Bonfire night will be safe.

Once it was announced that TTI won't be up and running until the end of the year these cancellations were inevitable.

But blame central government not local authorities. You local council didn't let the virus spread for months and do nothing, killing thousands a and destroying normal life as we know it. This government did.

They will also struggle to get insurance for big events and certainly wouldn't be covered for any Covid related cancellations so there would be a massive financial risk.

It looks like some of the Christmas markets are going ahead. I'm going self catering in July then that's it until December when I am hoping to do bath Christmas market.

I'm slowing excepting that life is cancelled for the foreseeable. I am going to.make small, cheap plans I can cancel last minute and embrace a hermits life

How polite of you @FizzFan 👏 sorry that I prefer a country with jobs and the money to pay for essential services which benefit everyone rather than events that support the few

Councils cannot afford to spend money on events when they have had their income cut MASSIVELY over the last few months
and the demands on their services will rise
and yet the precept cap remains

@AriettyHomily I don't think we can do lockdown again? Why ? There will be nothing to come out too !!!! The amount of mental health that is happening is doubling people are petrified to go out !! I feel the like I am in a dark hole and can't get out as there is nothing to look forward too

lockdown has been proven not to work
on a worldwide basis

• localisisng works
• masks work
• track test and trace work
• protect the vulnerable works

but the damage of full society lockdown has everywhere outweighed the benefits and has reduced trust and compliance across the board

eg
if you got a knock on the door from a badged LA officer saying
we have a severe local outbreak, please stay indoors for two weeks, we'll give you priority for shopping, your employer has been informed, as have the school
and it was enforced
people would cope and comply

what we have had is a system that does not match empirical evidence
or
the agreement of those setting the rules
so it has failed
all over the world

@AgentCooper..No not petty at all! That book sounds perfect for DS. We won tickets to our local car show last year and he would have loved that book to take around with him!

It could be here forever like flu is the world supposed to stop forever

Exactly. The whole thing is just off the scale!

^It could be here forever like flu is the world supposed to stop forever*

Exactly this and even when there’s a vaccine people will likely still die of it, like
some do of flu even when they’ve been vaccinated. Shit happens, Covid is just one of many nasty illnesses we are as a society going to have to live alongside.