And another one bites the dust – in the ongoing wake of the global pandemic crisis (and still relatively high infection rates in the UK, despite the pubs and hairdressers now being open and restrictions being lifted), organiser Jaime Milner and the Wales Comic Con team have made the decision to postpone this year’s Telford Takeover event, originally scheduled to run 22nd-23rd August, until an as-yet-unannounced date in 2021.
This evening, the social media of the event posted a very apologetic update image which went into effusive detail about how heartbroken the team were about the situation. It was also written in very small text so, for the benefit of those of us in advancing years and declining eyesight, the text of the announcement reads:
IMPORTANT UPDATE
“After closely monitoring the situation over the past few months, we feel it is the most sensible course of action at this point to postpone our headline event, Wales Comic Con: Telford Takeover.
We would like to thank you for all of your patience and understanding during what have been trying times for us all, in both a personal and professional lives. While other industries are now able to start opening and getting back to some kind of ‘normality’, this is certainly not the case for the events industry.
The health and well-being of those attending is of great importance to us, which is why we have been working with the venue to move the event from his original contracted 2020 dates and arrange a suitable date in 2021. With staff working extremely reduced hours, this has been a much more drawn-out process than it would normally be, so once again thank you for bearing with us. We will be announcing the new dates over the coming weeks.
Existing ticket holders will automatically be moved to the new 2021 dates, with the additional option to transfer entry tickets to any future Wales Comic Con event hosted in the next 18 months while keeping the 2020 pricing. As a fan event run by a small team, it is, of course, a huge help to us if you are able to keep hold of your ticket, particularly with the current climate. We do, however, appreciate these are difficult times for a lot of people so will respect any decision you make regarding this.
Further information on how the transfer process works will be emailed through GrowTix directly to attendees via the email address input at the original point of purchase. Refund requests will be handled by a web form that will be created to help streamline the process and made live on our official website after new dates have been announced over the weeks as we make final arrangements with all relevant parties.
Once again, I would like to thank you for all of your patience during this time. We wanted to ensure we were able to deliver a full and accurate update to you all, which due to the problems and uncertainty caused by COVID-19 has required more time than we would have liked.
We miss you all very much and cannot wait to see you all for the next Wales Comic Con, with the first wave of exciting guests and attractions announced very soon. If you can’t wait until then, we will be hosting a variety of live online events, autograph signings, auctions and celebrity panels in the coming weeks – keep an eye on our social media for details.”
Fair enough – and a responsible decision on all sides, considering the circumstances. As we discussed with Jaime when he appeared on a recent Talkin’ Con: A Cup O’ Tea… episode, he stated that he was intending to make the decision as close to the wire as he could, in order to see how the country was recovering from the harshness of the Coronavirus pandemic, as well as any decision that would be made by the Telford venue – end of the day, if he and his team had pulled the plug any sooner, they would have been liable for a raft of cancellation fees from both venue and talent agents. This way, those original arrangements will still be honoured and the WCC organisation isn’t left completely out of pocket.
As for the guests that will be transposed for and new names included to the new 2021 dates, as indeed what those dates will eventually be, we’ll keep you informed the best we can as soon as we hear it. Watch this space. And wear your damn masks.
