Carnival not cancelled yet
NOTTING Hill Carnival Ltd chief executive, Matthew Phillip, has revealed that currently the festival is still planning to go ahead.
This week a masquerade band, Masology, announced they were no longer taking part in Carnival, leading to confusion online at whether the entire event was cancelled.
Speaking on Portobello Radio, Mr Phillip said: “At the moment we’re still planning for Notting Hill Carnival 2020 but the foremost of our thoughts is the safety of our community and carnivalists. We’re paying close attention to advice we’re being given. We’re just watching to see what happens.
“Ultimately it’s about the safety of our community so obviously it wouldn’t go ahead if that would be impacted, but there will be a carnival of some sort.
“We have a huge legacy to protect and continue. The carnival community is very resilient. Whatever happens it’ll be done for us working together.”
Mr Phillip spoke on the challenge faced by masquerade bands who he said have been “hit the hardest” due to difficulty around costume preparations. He said coronavirus has had a global impact and all events would have to adapt, jokingly referring to a “Covid-19 Carnival”.
Regarding this week’s rumours of carnival being cancelled, Mr Phillip praised his communications team for setting the record straight and stressed that all official correspondence regarding carnival would come from their social media channels and/or website.