Council cancels all events for rest of year
ONE of Wales’ largest councils has cancelled all its remaining events for 2020, including its Halloween and Christmas celebrations.
The council-run events will be cancelled in Rhondda Cynon Taf (RCT), which remains in local lockdown due to the recent rise in coronavirus infections.
In April, RCT Council announced that all events up until, and including, the month of September would be cancelled due to the restrictions then in place, due to the level of preparation and organisation required to hold such events.
Now, given the Welsh Government’s introduction of local restrictions that are currently in place for the whole of RCT, along with 15 other areas in Wales, the council has made the decision to cancel events for the rest of the year.
The period between autumn and winter usually sees a number of events being held, including the Halloween Spooktacular and the Festival of Remembrance.
Both events will no longer go ahead, and the council has recently received guidance from the Welsh Government on commemorations for Remembrance Day.
Advice for residents wishing to celebrate the event will be issued as soon as possible.
As well as this, the annual Christmas town centre events will not go ahead due to the restrictions on public gatherings, and the requirement to maintain social distancing.
Information released by the council reads: “The council is, however, committed to ensuring that the festive period proceeds
with some normality, and the budget allocated to hosting the events will instead help to support improved decorations and displays in the county borough’s principal town centres.
“Details for the annual Santa’s Toy Mine event will also be communicated shortly, as a number of staff at the Welsh Mining Experience have been
deployed to support the Test, Trace, Protect programme.”
Earlier this month, the council and the Nos Galan Committee jointly announced that the hugely popular annual event would be “going virtual” for the 2020 edition.
In August it was also confirmed that Ponty’s Big Bang annual firework display had been
cancelled. While RCT is currently under enhanced local restrictions from the Welsh Government, residents can still access many much-loved outdoor locations across the county including the Dare Valley Country Park, Penpych Mountain, Aberdare Park, Ynysangharad War Memorial Park and Barry Sidings Country Park.