Dear customers and supporters,
The past months have been hard for many people. I apologise that we’ve been unable to look after our customers to the extent that you deserve.
Many of you have concerns regarding the forced postponement of The Bushcraft Show 2020. Our small team has tried hard to address these but has been snowed under with the volume of inquiries.
We wanted to get firm plans in place before communicating with all customers. I’m sorry that this has not come sooner. While we hoped to reschedule this Autumn, there is still too much uncertainty for that to be possible. Therefore, we’ve made the difficult decision to postpone our 10th-anniversary event until next year, on the 29th-31st May 2021. We can confirm that all tickets purchased for The Bushcraft Show 2020 will be valid for the rescheduled event (or indeed the 11th version of The Bushcraft Show in 2022!).
I know that some will want a refund, but we’re just not in a position to do so. The whole events industry has been severely affected by the devastating impact of this pandemic, and we’re no exception. There is no insurance payout available, and there is no available government funding for us. We’re a small business, working tirelessly for 11 months of the year to make The Bushcraft Show such a wonderful event.
Tickets are our primary source of income, and we use revenues to cover deposits, infrastructure, and other early costings of the show. While this model has worked seamlessly for the last decade, COVID-19 has caused us unprecedented problems. Many of the service businesses booked for the show have either gone into administration or allowed us to postpone their services until the pandemic is over and will not or cannot provide a refund. For that reason, we don’t have the money to offer refunds.
I’m sorry that we’re in this situation. I don’t like it, but the truth of the matter is that attempting to refund even a minority of ticket holders would severely compromise the business and risk our ability to reschedule the event for everyone else. That’s why I’m asking for your support.
We know these are hard times for people. To show our thanks, we’d like to offer you the opportunity to have a little more of a holiday next May. All existing ticket holders may extend the event by two nights for free, arriving from Thursday morning and departing by Tuesday lunchtime. Additionally and with the help of Martin Rollin and the crew at Silverback Bushcraft we’ll be inviting all existing ticket holders to a celebratory cookout together on Thursday evening where we shall provide you with supper and some drinks.
We’ll also enter you into a draw for the chance of winning some amazing prizes such as:
- Family tickets to The Bushcraft Show 2022
- A 2-year subscription to Bushcraft and Survival Skills magazine
- A Petromax FT6 Dutch Oven
- Fjällräven clothing voucher to the value of £150
The website will be updated shortly with the new arrangements for next year, and all ticket holders will receive updated tickets for the event. This means you will also avoid a small price increase in ticket price that we will be making.
With your patience and understanding, we will be able to survive this crisis and offer everyone a fantastic event next May. We hope very much that you will be able to see that your support is crucial to maintaining the integrity of this wonderful event and that you and your families are safe and well.
Thank you sincerely for your support.
Best wishes,
David
