Friends, sadly it’s finally time to call it. We tried for as long as possible to stay optimistic, but unfortunately, we have had to take the incredibly tough decision to postpone the Overland Winter Warmer to February 2022 following the Prime Minister's recent announcement. After 7 years, it will be the first event we’ve ever had to postpone.
We managed to run this year’s Winter Warmer during Storm Ciara, and run the main Overland Event 2020 during this extraordinary global pandemic, so you know we wouldn’t do this lightly. However, after the PM’s announcement on Monday, it’s clear that we face a constantly shifting situation with variable tiers of control and local restriction implementation across the country. This will impact the ability of our presenters and wonderful volunteers to attend (with little or no notice) as well as our use of the venue itself.
As you’d expect, ahead of this announcement we’ve been talking to alternative venues with greater capacity for physical distancing, but finding venues which fulfill all of our requirements, are prepared to host the event, and which have local authorities prepared to cooperate, has been challenging. Now that we have an announcement outlining the restrictions which will be in place until Easter, these other avenues have been closed. The good news is that all tickets will automatically be valid for next year’s Winter Warmer, so you do not have to do anything to reserve your place. Your existing ticket is now your Passport to Winter Warmer 2022.
The decision to postpone hasn’t been taken lightly and is sincerely the last thing we wanted to do. We were still hopeful of going ahead until the PM’s announcement; however, it has become clear that even with the great news about vaccines, the current situation isn’t going to have changed significantly enough to run the event in February 2021.
As a small operation that’s been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic, enduring significantly increased costs in 2020, we’d really like as many of our Overland community as possible to roll their tickets over to next year. That way you not only get guaranteed entry to an event which always sells out but you’ll get next year’s tickets at this year’s prices!
If you are happy and able to roll your ticket on to next year’s Winter Warmer, you will be a hero to the team, not least because it creates less admin and we hate admin! As thanks for rolling your ticket to next year, we’ll throw your name into Paddy's Shoei to win a Passport to The Overland Event at Hill End, 2nd-5th September 2021.
So, if you’re happy to roll your Passport over to the Winter Warmer 2022, you don’t have to do anything. However, if you’d like a full refund (including your booking fee), please just email saul@overlandevent.com before 5th February 2021. Please note that the ticketing system we use will also refund your donation to children's charity COCO if you made one - if you're able to still donate to them, please do so here. We aim to process the refunds within 24 hours of receiving your request, but it may take a couple of days before it reaches your bank account.
Thank you and sorry. Stay safe, and we'll see you at Hill End in September 2021 for a hug and a beer!
Paddy, Saul and The Overland Volunteers.
