The organisers of the Gillingham Carnival have announced that this year’s processions, scheduled for Saturday 10 October, have been cancelled.

Instead the next processions have been scheduled for 9 October 2021.

In a statement the Gillingham, committee said: ‘Due to the ongoing threat of coronavirus the Carnival Committee has taken the difficult decision to cancel this year’s Carnival Processions which were due to take place on Saturday 10th October.

‘The committee believe this to be the right decision for the safety of carnival entrants and public alike.’

However there is hope that some of the smaller carnival events could still occur.

The committee said: ‘Large gatherings are unlikely to be safe to hold for the foreseeable future although we hope to be able to hold some of our smaller Carnival Week Events later in the year.

‘However, this will be dependent on government guidance at the time.’