A COMMUNITY group has had to shelve plans for two events in Crewe after the government's changes on mass gatherings.

Creative Crewe planned to stage a Town Centre Tea Party in the Market Sheds on Lyceum Square on Saturday (September 19) with cash raised donated to Leighton Hospital's cancer unit.

There was also another event pencilled in for Queens Park on Saturday, September 26, but both are now off because of the new Covid-19 rules restricting outside gatherings.

The group has hosted many performing arts and craft-based events in the Crewe area over the last five years and says several weeks of preparations, including booking stall holders, have been ruined.

It staged a successful socially distanced craft activity event for children last month in Lyceum Square and hoped that its programme would boost Crewe's cultural offering, which has been hit hard with the Lyceum Theatre's closure and cancellation of all shows for at least another five months.

Creative Crewe issued a statement, saying: "It is with regret we must cancel the planned events on September 19 and 26 because of the new Covid rules about mass gatherings.

"We are very disappointed and we had done a lot of preparation work already."

Acoustic artists and dance groups were lined up for the Market Sheds event and there would have been stalls and craft activities with the strict COVID risk assessment, in place for all volunteers involved in the August event, in force again.

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The new rules pose uncertainties for community groups planning to stage events in Crewe town centre. Crewe Cultural Forum was planning to establish a Creative Hub to encourage engagement and animate central town spaces as the town emerged from lockdown.

The closure of Lyceum Square and the Market Sheds for traffic offered an opportunity to make use of town centre space to run socially-distancing activities, including activities suspended due to a lack of suitable indoor space.

Crewe Cultural Forum has a small budget available to support with resources and equipment and says it can help individuals and organisations with staffing, risk assessments, planning and delivery.

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