Bolsover Postponed Until 2021

On Friday we had a Bolsover Festival of Brass Management Team meeting to chat through our position regarding the 2020 Bolsover Festival of Brass event on the 4^th October 2020..

With the recent government guidance and the subsequent guidance issued by Brass Bands England a few days ago we feel our only option for the live festival of Brass 2020 is to postpone the Bolsover Festival of Brass 2020 to 3^rd October 2021.

During all our deliberations we have endeavoured to focus on facts rather than rumours / myths / hearsay and to this end have based all our discussions on advice / guidance from the two agencies responsible for formulating Coronavirus (Covid -19) response strategies in England namely The Department of Health and Social Care and Public Health England.

As the current guidance issued by these bodies states that:

“The playing of brass / wind instruments is considered a high risk activity and as such should only be undertaken at this time by professional ensembles of a restricted size working under strict control measures”

In all our discussions our key aim has been to ensure that any contest is delivered in an environment which is as safe as reasonably practicable for those competing, adjudicating, running or if appropriate attending the contest whilst also complying with current government guidance. We now realise that this cannot be realistically achieved in the timescale of the event.

Can I thank each and every one of you for your understanding at this time and hopefully when practicable to do so we can deliver an event that is not only a credit to us all but one which is an enjoyable experience for those involved and demonstrates all that is good about brass banding. Please keep your eye on A4B for news of our “Bolsover Highlights” series which we hope to bring you of the event over the last couple of years and to remind everyone of the enjoyment that performing to an appreciative worldwide audience brings.”