WELL, a belated happy new year to my reader! My optimism for a better 2021 took a severe dent on Monday evening and once again, all our theatre bookings for the next few months have gone down the pan.

Pretty hard to take, but what can you do? Bring on the vaccine, I say.

We are now turning our attention to the Worcester Festival in August. It seems a long way off, but in terms of planning, it’ll be on us before we know it.

At this stage, we are assuming that the festival will be able to run pretty much as it normally did pre-Covid, with loads of exciting live events.

We learnt from the 2020 Festival (which ran and was hugely successful despite Covid) that virtual events are very popular and attracted a much wider audience from all over the country and even some interest from Australia. We shall therefore be doing lots of those whatever the position is about live events.

We are hoping that the 2021 Festival will include an Asian Mela (festival), eco events, running and cycling events for the first time, band, climbing walls and much much more. If you have any ideas for new events, do email me on chris@worcesterfestival.co.uk.