Events/cCamps 2021 cancelled / still clinging on?

[Richard T]

Usually over the summer we have an event camp, sometimes this is an international, sometimes its UK based.
This summer we were hoping to attend the Come to tolmers camp, however like many events it appears to have succumbed to the uncertainty around Covid.

Other than Brumjam which doesnt appear to have been cancelled or postponed yet, what else is still clinging on / not yet cancelled or postponed??

[Nick]

As far as I can tell everything has been cancelled or postponed. I provide activities at these large camps and jamborees so have a vested interest in knowing what is being planned, I know of nothing going ahead this summer and my contacts in the event industry also know of nothing.

However the summer of 2022 is looking like a bumper year for large camps and jamborees.

[grenfellfamily]

Might be very interesting if some/all of the postponed events move to 2022 along with all the ones that were originally planned for 2022.
Do you think that's going to dilute out the attendees, or will there be a suitable increase as many more people than usual jump at the chance?

Booked activities from 2020 may also very well be the booked activities for a different event in 2022. Cant do 2 at the same time!

Richard

[shiftypete]

Might be very interesting if some/all of the postponed events move to 2022 along with all the ones that were originally planned for 2022.
Do you think that's going to dilute out the attendees, or will there be a suitable increase as many more people than usual jump at the chance?

Booked activities from 2020 may also very well be the booked activities for a different event in 2022. Cant do 2 at the same time!

Richard

Unfortunatly I think many of the 2020 events that tried postponing to 2021 will now be cancelled. I know our large County camp which was postponed from 2020 to 2021 has now been cancelled and Norjam 2022 has already been cancelled as they couldn't afford to take the finacial risk as it was uninsurable.

[Nick]

Booked activities from 2020 may also very well be the booked activities for a different event in 2022. Cant do 2 at the same time!

This initially proved to be a bit of a nightmare with events from 2020 that postponed to 2021 clashing with 2021 booking I had already taken, each then demanded I honour their booking. In the end everyone cancelled so it proved not to be a problem. As you point out it is difficult to be in 2 places at the same time.

[big chris]

I think we are going to sack off Summer camp for a second year which is a real shame. Trying to judge when to say that it is off is the next issue. In theory, we could go at a few day's notice in terms of logistics but that is no good for us leaders and our families.

[dsheehan]

I've booked an array of relatively local stuff for July/ August/ September this year optimistically. Stuff that could potentially be done without minibuses, as day trips or pulled together (or indeed pulled entirely) very fast.

I wouldn't be booking up for anything with large numbers, big deposits or to be honest commercial where I book spaces with limited flexibility/ control.

My theory being that the restrictions can't possibly be WORSE than they were last summers so some sort of Scouting will be do-able if not everything.

[richardnhunt]

I think we are going to sack off Summer camp for a second year which is a real shame. Trying to judge when to say that it is off is the next issue. In theory, we could go at a few day's notice in terms of logistics but that is no good for us leaders and our families.

Interesting. I have been feeling more optimistic that we will get something over the last week. Might be restricted a bit, but more optimistic.

[BenOfThe12th]

With all the recent changes to POR with regards risk aversion, the chances of being green before 2022 is pretty slim.
Therefore no residential events...

[Dr_Pepper]

Not sure about our scouts but personally I need something to look forward to. I'm an optimist and our camp will be happening if it's allowed to. I do appreciate that large events have to plan and cannot run everything at the last minute, but that's not the case with our group camp - for us it's pretty much a case of rent a van, empty the entire scout hut contents into it and head to Tesco

[Neil Williams]

Unfortunatly I think many of the 2020 events that tried postponing to 2021 will now be cancelled. I know our large County camp which was postponed from 2020 to 2021 has now been cancelled and Norjam 2022 has already been cancelled as they couldn't afford to take the finacial risk as it was uninsurable.

Uninsurable risk is the main issue, to be honest. Unless the Government steps in to underwrite, there are going to be big events, festivals cancelled for 2023 pretty soon. It's not that they don't think they'll go ahead, it's that if you can't get insurance you pretty much can't do it.

[mattcollins171]

I have recently had to cancel the Monopoly Run. Not something that we've ever had to do in the past, even when the Beast from the East hit. Wasn't an easy decision but I just couldn't see us running in May. Also as we are an annual event it did take some of the edge off the decision.

With the event having around 4000 people attending it's a hell of a lot easier to cancel earlier than later, but I would agree with Dr_Pepper. I'm still optimistic about Summer Camp with the Explorers (coast to coast cycle) in July, maybe not quite as optimistic for the Scout one in May half term as we were planning on going to Guernsey.

[wealdbrook]

I guessed the Monopoly Run would be cancelled - now to update your sig Matt!

[campwarden]

Uninsurable risk is the main issue, to be honest. Unless the Government steps in to underwrite, there are going to be big events, festivals cancelled for 2023 pretty soon. It's not that they don't think they'll go ahead, it's that if you can't get insurance you pretty much can't do it.

Not sure if thats a typo Neil - i'm hoping you mean 2022 rather than 2023?

As someone who works within the industry there is actually a fair amount of confidence in 2022. There's a reasonable amount of confidence in smaller events for Summer 2021. A few events did manage to go ahead in some form last year which i think has boosted confidence of what is possible.

Insurance wise, the only real issue is going to be the event cancellation - there's no issues getting public liability insurance etc. There arent too many issues getting general event cancellation insurance - however the terms will generally now exclude cancellation due to Covid. In all fairness the events insurance industry took a massive hit in 2020, so I can understand them not wanting to continue to take that hit.

The solution, as you say, is for the government to step in and provide some very specific underwriting for covid-related event cancellation. Who knows, it might not even cost them very much! If they agreed with the insurance companies to underwrite that aspect of the insurance then it would really boost confidence within the industry, and help many small businesses etc to at least get some bookings (and deposits) in.

I have relatively little faith now in the government ever doing "the right thing".

From a scouting point of view - as i've already said i'd be planning a local summer camp which could easily switch into a week of day activities (thus still helping parents with childcare for a week of the summer holiday)

As an archery club we're planning ahead to a busy summer programme of competitions and events, whilst keeping financial risks to a minimum. If it doesnt happen then realistically all we've lost is some time. And thats something that many of us have plenty of at the moment. In fact, its probably keeping some of us sane having something to plan and prepare for. We will also look to operate public camping this summer on part of our land under the 28 day (extended to 56 day again this year) rule now that the naysayers on the committee who stopped us doing it last year have gone If scout camps cant go ahead its something i'd urge every scout campsite (and possibly even groups that have a decent amount of land and a rural HQ) to consider as a potentially lucrative source of income this summer.

[campwarden]

Update to my previous post- this morning i had a phone call from a major festival organiser (for obvious commercial reasons i cant say which one).

They're looking at offering a series of smaller festivals this summer instead of the traditional big festivals.

It doesnt help obviously when Grant Shapps starts telling people not to book UK holidays yet - anyone would think the government were actively trying to destroy the economy. With 1/5 of the adult population, including the vast majority of the highly vulnerable, vaccinated they really need to start getting things back up and running sooner rather than later if we're still going to have anything resembling an economy. By all means lock down the external borders to reduce our exposure to new variants, but then let the country get back on its feet.

Unlike "lockdown 1" i've come across very few people who support this latest lockdown.