Further to our update on 16th May 2020, the Committee have been working tirelessly to shape what a Ferry Fair in 2020 could look like.
Since the lockdown started at the end of March the situation has been very fluid and we have had to evolve our thinking on what is and is not possible in 2020.
Many people raised postponing the Crowning Ceremony with Echline Primary School until August 2021, but we had already made the decision that it would be unfair to simply roll forward as the children within the next Primary School already know it’s their turn. Further to this, the Committee made a big decision a number of years ago to move to Primary 6 for the main parts of the fair. This was due to the lack of support when Primary 7’s moved to S1 and were not prepared to participate the following year as “ex’s”. If we were to move the 2020 Court forward to becoming the 2021 Court then the impact on future years would be ongoing, therefore in 2022 moving back to using Primary 7 pupils or even Primary 6 & 7 pupils, for fairness, would then have to continue and we would be back in that position that the Committee had to deal with those years ago. Particularly with the bigger schools the chances of being picked to participate would be affected too.
We discussed a variety of options before the last update, which was also reported in The Gazette. We held a Q&A session, on 21st May 2020, with the parents of the children in this year’s court. It was clear that there were a number of differing views on how and if to proceed. Being aware that this event is predominantly for the children we asked the parents of this year’s court to vote on whether they felt they could support an event this year or would prefer to postpone till Spring 2021, where hopefully, we can have a more ceremonial and social event.
The majority decision from the parents was to postpone the event until Spring 2021.
We are now focusing our attention on planning for two events next year, one in Spring, for the 2020 Court and a second in August, for the 2021 Court.
These events, should they be allowed to take place, will both be different from those experienced in recent years and will be within the Scottish Government guidelines at that time. Both Crowning ceremonies will be given the same ceremonial etiquette as we can so that both events will receive the same experience, though in areas may be slimmed down, no event will be lesser than the other.
We have previously stated that, due to funding restrictions, any events during 2020 / 2021 will be smaller in scale, however, at this moment we do not know exactly what this will look like. We will, however, plan on the basis that both events will follow the tradition and be held on the High Street although we have no control over this and therefore will endeavour to locate a suitable location to perform this at that time.
We appreciate that this is a change from our last update but we need to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all involved and adhere to current government guidelines.
At this stage, the Committee can confirm that the Burryman is still planning to walk through the town on 14th August 2020.
The Committee would also like you all to mark the Ferry Fair Day of Saturday 15th August 2020 by families putting out flags and having your own get togethers.
As plans develop we will issue further updates via the website and facebook. All plans will be developed based on the government guidelines at the time.
Please stay safe
The Ferry Fair Committee
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