Nusrat Ghani, MP for Wealden, has advocated for Wealden’s Black Deer Festival in Parliament today, following ongoing Covid restrictions on live outdoor events.
Wealden is home to many award-winning events and festivals and the annual Black Deer Festival, taking place on the 3,500 acres of the beautiful Eridge Park, is at the heart of local summer entertainment activities. Every year, Black Deer attracts over 30,000 visitors and fans from the South East, the rest of the UK and from all over the world, bringing a vital boost to Wealden’s economy with revenues from tourism, transport, and hospitality sectors.
Black Deer Festival was due to take place this weekend (25-27 June), but due to the delay in easing of current measures further, it had to be postponed again until next year. This was despite the event being Covid-safe with test&trace system in place and premises large enough to host quadruple the amount of ticket holders.
Nusrat has been working tirelessly to salvage the event, cooperating closely with Gill Tee, the co-founder and director of Black Deer and neighbouring MP Greg Clark, making countless representations to the Government and Arts Council England.
Nusrat Ghani said: ”In Parliament today, I raised my concerns over the two-tier system for outdoor events and why Ministers can produce data for sporting events being given the go ahead while other outdoor Covid-safe events such as Black Deer Festival are being cancelled. The event was ready to go with robust safety measures in place to be Covid-safe and yet it had to cancel last-minute. I’m beyond devastated for Gill, the co-founder and director of Black Deer, and the hundreds of organisers, performers and suppliers involved in the planning for this fantastic Covid-safe outdoor event – now postponed until 2022. We are extremely lucky to have this unique music festival at our doorstep and I’m dreading the impact the multiple postponements have had on many livelihoods and the local economy. I will continue to do all I can to support the Black Deer event management team through this difficult time.”
Chris Russell-Fish, Managing Director of Black Deer, said: "I want to express my most sincere and personal thanks for all you have tried to do for BDF this year, the doors that you have knocked upon and the work you have done to bring to the attention of both the Minister, DCMS and the ERP committee, our very special festival. It has been an extra ordinary effort on your behalf, and especially the question to the Minister in the House of Commons, which brought a smile of recognition to all of our team, crew, suppliers and all those that worked so diligently on the festival to ensure we had best practise mitigations in place to manage covid-19, and the safety of all our visitors, staff and artists. It means a great deal to all of us, that you have been so wonderful in your support, and which has been displayed so publicly. Thank you for everything you have done, and it is appreciated more than you could possibly imagine."
