Coronavirus: Whittlesey Festival cancelled; Peterborough library services moved online

The annual event, which usually takes place in the town centre, has been cancelled following a decision by the Whittlesey Festival Committee.

Cllr Peter Murphy, the council’s cabinet member responsible for markets and events, said: “It is always very disappointing to cancel much loved community events such as this, but after careful consideration the Whittlesey Festival Committee felt they had no other reasonable option.

“With many businesses now closed and facing much uncertainty themselves, securing advertising and sponsorship would prove challenging. Many of the headline acts in the exciting programme of music and entertainment are also, understandably, unlikely to commit at this time. Continued planning of the event at this stage would represent a significant financial risk to festival committee funds and the success of the event.”

The council is currently contacting stallholders, caterers and entertainers who were due to attend the festival and will offer them the option of either transferring their booking to next year’s event, which will be held on Sunday, September 12 2021, or providing a full refund.

Meanwhile, Vivacity, which runs leisure and culture services in Peterborough, has announced a new at home service for library members.

The team has been working with Ancestry, the UK’s largest family history site, to make their online library edition available to members in their homes.

Vivacity said: “The Ancestry site has always been available for our members to access from within the libraries. Now that isn’t possible, we thought it would be a really valuable resource for people to enjoy from their homes. We spoke to Ancestry and they have allowed us to make the online portal available for free to our members until the end of May.

“Our team has been working hard behind the scenes to bring this together and we are delighted that they have been able to do it. Whilst many people are staying at home we hope this will be a popular activity to do. It’s great for all generations to explore and find out a little bit more about their history.”

If you are not a member of the library you can join up for free online by visiting https://vivacity.org/libraries-archives/online-library-services/.