Gloucs-Warks pulls plug on all events for this year

THE Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway (GWSR) has taken the bold step to cancel its entire calendar of events for the rest of the year, including the lucrative'Santa Special' season.

Like all of the UK's heritage lines, the railway suffered a major loss of income as a result of the coronavirus lockdown, and therefore the decision to cancel the rest of the year's events was not taken lightly.

However, the GWSR is aiming to reintroduce train services at some point during the year, but only when it is safe for both volunteers and visitors to do so, given continuing self-distancing rules.

By its own admission many of the GWSR's volunteers are regarded as being particularly vulnerable given their age, which has the potential to make operating train services and running events particularly difficult.

"Although restrictions are easing on the national network, it is still too early to say when we can think about running train services between Cheltenham Racecourse and Broadway again;' said Glyn Cornish, chairman of the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway Trust.

"As a result, the railway's board has sadly concluded it has no choice but to cancel all remaining special events this year.

"I know this will disappoint hundreds of families, but we just don't know when we will be able to start operating again.

"Given that many of our volunteers are in the'at risk' age category, we may find there are too few volunteers to operate afull service, never mind run events:'