With reluctance, Folk Camps Council has decided that for reasons of safety and financial prudence, we cannot run the programme of summer catered week camps in July and August 2021.
This decision was taken after looking at the safety risks, the costs, availability of staff and demand. The survey (sent to anyone who has camped with FCS since 2018) drew 196 responses from which we learned that 28% of campers had already decided not to attend a folk camp this year and/or had decided to book a different type of holiday. Equally we were very gratified to learn that 99% of you are planning to return in 2022!
Many thanks to all those who took part in our survey, which was very helpful in helping Council to gain a fuller picture of campers’ views.
The other key reasons for Council’s decision were:
- 57% of staff could not commit to staffing on a camp this summer.
- The mask, distancing, sanitation, covid testing and food hygiene requirements that will apply in July or August remain unknown.
- Council and the majority of FCS members have been clear that we would only want to run a ‘normal’ Folk Camp, i.e without facemasks or social distancing and with the freedom to sing, dance and play music without restriction.
We considered running a smaller programme, but we were mindful of the danger of it being ‘exclusive’ to those who are lucky enough to be vaccinated or able to book at the drop of a hat. This could exclude those who are too young to be fully vaccinated by August and those whose holiday dates are controlled by their employers.
From the health and safety point of view there are still too many uncertainties, and by the time the position is clearer it would be too late for us to carry out the necessary pre-event preparations.
August Bank Holiday – no decision yet
We are keeping open the possibility of the August Bank holiday weekends because these will be later, incur much less financial risk and are self-catered, thereby removing one of the principal health issues. Council will review the position in the first week of July and email you very soon after that.
Plans for 2022
In 2022, we very much hope that we will be able to resume our full programme, with many of the sites, people and events we all love. The broad programme will be similar to the one we had to cancel in 2020, but we may need to change some sites due to changes in availability.
We hope you will have a good summer 2021 with whatever holidays we are able to have – with friends or family, self-catered camping or any other type of holiday.
Folk Camps Council