Bolsover Festival of Brass 2020 – Event Postponement due to COVID 19 Pandemic

On Friday 10th July Bolsover Festival of Brass Management Team held a meeting to chat through our position regarding whether the event for 2020 would be possible with the current restrictions laid down by the Government with regards to Brass Bands performing indoors during the COVID 19 Pandemic.

With the guidance issued by Brass Bands England last night we feel our only option for the live festival of Brass 2020 is to postpone the Bolsover Festival of Brass 2020 to 3rd October 2021. Your entries will all transfer across as they are. If any bands have been promoted or relegated since your entry was received please let me know and this will be updated on your entry and your section entered amended.

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 4Barsrest.com 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.”

Many Thanks,

Kind Regards,

Carole Hirst

Event Organiser

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