Town centres will be lit up with Christmas lights and Remembrance Sunday will also be marked in Sandwell, despite the Covid-19 pandemic.
Sandwell Council today confirmed that although Christmas light switch-ons and Bonfire Night events would not be able to go ahead, the council would do everything possible to celebrate events and mark important dates without large public gatherings.
Councillor Maria Crompton, deputy leader for Sandwell Council, said: “We’ll be doing all we can to mark Remembrance Sunday in a safe way.
“A decision will be taken in the coming weeks on how best to do this, given that the current high Covid-19 infection rates and restrictions will inevitably prevent large-scale public events.
“We’re awaiting national guidance on commemorating Remembrance Sunday and working on how Sandwell will mark the day in a Covid-safe way.
“It is so important that we still pay tribute to all of those who gave their lives in wars and conflicts – and we are already looking at a series of virtual Remembrance activities as part of our planning for November. We’ll release more details on this later in the month once we have received national guidance.
“Sadly, and it won’t come as a surprise to people that we won’t be able to mark Bonfire Night in the usual way and there will not be a council-organised public fireworks display in Sandwell this year.
“We’re also looking at ways to celebrate Christmas virtually and, although sadly we won’t be able to have Christmas lights switch-on events that people can attend, we will of course be putting up lights in our town centres as we do each year.
“This will help support local traders and businesses after a very challenging year, as well as brightening up our town centres for shoppers and our communities.
“Our number one priority is to reduce the spread of Covid-19 in Sandwell and to keep our communities safe – while making sure these important occasions are observed despite the virus meaning we can’t hold physical events attended by the hundreds of people who usually enjoy them.”
For more information about online and virtual events taking place throughout the winter, go to our Discover Sandwell website.
