Organisers of our monthly Ruddington Village Market have announced that the popular event will be put on hold until April 3rd – Easter Saturday.
The difficult decision by Ruddington Village Centre Partnership (RVCP) has been made on COVID-19 safety grounds following the recent surge in cases of the new variant Coronavirus which has recently led to a third national ‘lockdown’. After being cancelled last November (during the previous ‘lockdown’) the market did take place again in December under Nottinghamshire’s Tier 3 restrictions. There is no January market, so the ones called off are those which were due to take place on The Green on February 6th and March 6th 2021.
Legally these markets could still have gone ahead, accommodating just ‘essential traders’ and using the ‘social distancing’ measures which have previously been put in place. However, in a statement released today, RVCP explains it has to balance its support for the market stallholders and local retail businesses with our current duty to ‘stay home’, ‘protect the NHS’ and ‘save lives’. “Needless to say, the decision was not one we enjoyed having to make but, in the interests of safety for our team, our amazing crew of volunteers, and our community of visitors and traders, it’s sad to say that the February and March markets will not be going ahead.”
RVCP admits: “Clearly this is pretty rubbish news, and gutting that it was going to be our second birthday but, as a community-run market, we feel this is the right thing to do for our village. As with the last two ‘lockdowns’, we encourage you to seek out our traders online, check out our trader listings on our Village Market website and show them your support with orders for delivery and ‘click & collect’. Once again, these are tough times for small independent businesses, but together we can all keep them ticking over, and ready to stand with us again when we return.”
Market manager, Sue Matthews, adds: “Having had to notify all those who applied for the market so far (75 of them – we’ve got a waiting list!) I have been encouraged by the immediately supportive responses I received from many of them. I have reassured them all we will be back as vibrant and buzzing as before as soon as it is safe to do so, and I’m sure our local residents and visitors will welcome them back with enthusiasm.”
Organisers won’t be resting on their laurels whilst the ‘physical’ market is paused again, though. Mark Pinks has already confirmed he will be hosting more ‘Instagram Live’ sessions with Ruddington Traders at 8pm on Thursday nights the 14th, 21st and 28th February – with more to follow. This will include another ‘Instagram Live’ with some of the usual stall holders on February 6th, which would have been ‘market day’. There’s still to be a ‘2nd Birthday’ cake, too, plus a raffle to win a hamper of goodies from Ruddington traders in support of RVCP’s Charity of the Month. The full details will appear on the market’s social media nearer the time.
Mark says: “You know us by now, right? We don’t let little things like ‘lockdowns’ stop us from keeping the market going! We will of course do all we can to support our indie friends. Keep on keeping on. We’re with you.”
You can read about Ruddington Village Market’s move to The Green last year, and see more photos, >>HERE<<.
