Bognor's Southdowns Folk Festival falls victim to the pandemic

This year’s September festival will not be taking place.

Festival chairman Roger Nash said: “Whereas a few short weeks ago there was cautious optimism that this year’s Festival could go ahead, recent developments and growing uncertainty have meant that with enormous sadness, this popular event will be postponed until next year with the new dates being September 16 to 19.

“All the indications from Government are that social distancing will be in place for the foreseeable future in order to continue the struggle against Covid-19 and help protect the NHS.

“This makes it almost impossible to use our indoor Festival venues, both in terms of keeping audiences safe and the adverse financial impact this will have.

“Further, we cannot even be sure that these venues will be available by September plus Arun District and West Sussex County Councils are not allowing any road closures or events on their land at this moment in time.

“Therefore, in these unprecedented circumstances, we feel that postponement is the most responsible course of action we can take in order protect future festivals as well as fully protect our audiences, volunteers, performers, venues, suppliers and contractors.

“We are rolling-over our entire Festival programme into 2021 and are currently talking with headline artists, other performers, stall holders, local authorities and our festival venues about appearing and hosting events between September 16 and 19 next year.

“We can confirm that we have had very positive responses from these discussions and we envisage that our Festival programme featuring Steve Harley, The Strawbs and Steve Knightley amongst others, plus the popular Ukulele Festival and the inaugural Americana Festival on the Pier, will very much mirror what would have taken place this year with the possibility of one or two ex