Swanage Carnival

We are sad to announce that Swanage Carnival is cancelled for the second year running due to the pandemic.

We want to run a safe event that protects the public and our members. We do not know what social distancing restrictions may remain in place during the summer. There is still no clear guidance for the staging of mass events and in particular how mitigation measures such as testing or any form of certification to reduce the risk of infection would be implemented or offered for free, outdoor events. And, although the UK vaccination programme is progressing very well, it will not be complete before our event.

As there is a significant risk that our event would not be able to run as normal, we have had to consider our potential losses if we planned to go ahead, but were forced to cancel or restrict our event at a later at stage.

We do not feel it will be appropriate to seek sponsorship as we usually would, due to the difficult circumstances faced by many of our sponsors, and as we have reached a point in time when non-refundable deposits must be paid, we risk losing thousands of pounds. As a voluntary organisation that is funded by money raised by Swanage Carnival and donated by sponsors and supporters, we do not feel we can justify such a loss.

In addition to this, the influx of people to the town, when there is still such a degree of uncertainly, may understandably be a concern for many.

It is therefore with a heavy heart that we cancel our event for 2021 and once again put all our efforts towards the year ahead.