Safety first as fun day is hit by Covid rules
Organisers cancel popular event after coronavirus spike
Hillhouse Community Council’s annual fun day was cancelled at the last minute due to a rise in Covid cases.
Despite recently getting the green light to finally go ahead on Saturday, September 12, plans were scrapped the night before as Lanarkshire became the latest area to enter new lockdown rules.
The Scottish Government’s road map announcement on August 24 permitted fairground events to take place, much to the delight of fun day organisers and locals. But the plug was pulled when Lanarkshire saw a sudden rise in coronavirus cases in recent weeks.
Hillhouse Community Council announced the decision on Facebook, saying: “We are very sorry to announce that we have been forced to cancel our event over safety concerns because of the rise in Covid cases in Lanarkshire.
“We were advised by South
Lanarkshire Council that we would no longer be permitted to have our fun day for this year.
“We hope you understand that we tried our best to put something on for the kids, but sadly during this pandemic, nothing is normal or easy. We hope to see you all next year with a bigger and better Funday than ever before!”
The event’s lineup included funfair rides, bumper cars as well as free food and drink, however local donations were still used.
Hillhouse Community Council chairman Tom Skilling told the Advertiser: “We were pretty gutted but with Covid restrictions it had to be done. It was 3.50pm when we were phoned on Friday afternoon to cancel it, so it was very late in the day.
“It was too much of a risk so the council decided it was best to cancel it. We definitely wouldn’t want to put anybody in danger, but it was a shame for the kids and people turning out, but keeping people safe was much more important. The council said very sorry but we can’t be taking that risk with the number of cases going up. Everybody’s quite gutted but safety comes first. We’d like to say a big thank you to the councillors who helped us out this year, the National Lottery along with Morrisons who donated food for the kids as well.”
A special thanks was also paid to local deli Mcdougall’s Kitchen who had arranged to provide free hotdogs and burgers to kids on the day – and they still managed to do this on Saturday where children were able to go in to collect them, along with goody bags and candy floss.