Wickham Festival 2020 'will go ahead as planned' if restrictions are relaxed enough

Hopes were raised after a statement posted on the festival’s Facebook page said: ‘Our view is that if government restrictions are sufficiently relaxed in time then our Wickham Festival will go ahead as planned.’

The music festival, currently scheduled for August 6 to 9, was set to headline with legendary singer-songwriter, Van Morrison, and renowned band The Waterboys.

It comes after organisers of Victorious Festival, due to be held between August 27-29, announced the event was cancelled due to the pandemic.

Wickham organiser Peter Chegwyn wants to maintain peoples’ hopes but said the festival will only go ahead ‘if allowed by the government’.

He told The News: ‘Safety is paramount but we just want to keep our options open.

‘A lot has changed in the last 10 weeks and this is a fast moving situation and no one knows just how things will be by August.

‘People are desperate to get outside and to have something to look forward to and there are still other outdoor events across the country which are scheduled to take place.

‘Ultimately, however, government regulations would need to be relaxed as you can currently only have a maximum of six people meeting together.’

The government has stated it will look to review leisure activities at the start of July.

Wickham’s organiser, a Gosport borough councillor, is hopeful that outdoor events will be part of this assessment.

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He said: ‘We will make our final decision at the start of July when the government makes its announcement. We’ve a short build period and could have everything ready within five weeks.

‘I just hope the government are clear with whatever they announce. For example as part of their plan, Ireland have said there will be no gatherings of more than 5,000 people before August 10.’

Peter has already started to put together a coronavirus plan to mitigate risks if the festival is allowed to go ahead.

‘We would only have one stage, rather than five, and would remove all marquees and make it an outdoor only event. Scientists have said it’s very difficult for the virus to spread outdoors. We would also halve the capacity to help maintain distancing,’ he said.

If the festival does have to be cancelled organisers have confirmed that tickets can either be transferred to next year’s event or a full refund will be provided.

Peter added: ‘At some point we are going to have to start living with coronavirus but there’s no way we will run the festival if it’s going to endanger public health.’

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