Major Waddesdon attraction cancelled

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Friday, 2 July 2021 07:00

The organisers say it was a difficult decision, and feel they've let the community down, but ultimately safety had to take priority.

The Waddesdon Weekender was due to take place on Sunday at the Cricket Club, with a host of attractions and activities, but following a committee meeting on Wednesday, and a conversation with the council, the decision was taken to cancel the event.

"We know some of the local schools have had COVID cases, so that was a major concern and we didn't want to risk making it worse in the area" said Paul Irwin, one of the organisers.

In the past the weekend has attracted over 2,000 people, and Paul said although that's far less than recent crowds at the football or Wimbledon, his team just don't have the resources to carry out the same level of checks and procedures.

"We've seen crowds at major sporting events, but at places like Wembley you to prove you've had a negative test, or jabs. We don't have the manpower or right organisational skills to ensure that would happen. So I understand when people say about going to stadiums but not local fetes or attractions, and next week we may well see the school rules relaxed too, but that's next week. Right now we just felt we had to be responsible".

"It's absolutely devastating to make this decision. The committee have put 6 months hard work into this. We had 45 stall holders coming, who were all paying £10 each, which would have gone to charity. We've had to give that back so we feel we've let the charities down too. I've seen the reaction on Facebook and people are devastated, and that chokes us up. It's really hard to see".

Paul also told us that it's unlikely the event will be re-organised on the same scale later in the year;

"Waddesdon Parish Council have their village fete, so we are going to help with that, and we may look to do a one day, live music event, but I think to get all the stalls organised again this year will be too difficult. We know to make this work it has to be done properly, and the timeline would be short now, but we've got a meeting next week and we'll take it from there. But if we can do something, we will".

"I'd just like to say thank you to all the people who have worked so hard in the build up the event, and sorry to everyone who was looking forward to it. But we will be back, bigger and better, in the future!".

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