Lichfield Cathedral has been forced to cancel some sessions of its popular illuminated events due to uncertainty over which tier of coronavirus restrictions the city will be in.

Cathedral Illuminated
Cathedral Illuminated

The sessions on 16th and 17th December have been axed with a Government update not expected until the day of the first event.

A spokesperson for the cathedral said they still hoped additional nights could take place.

“We all hoped that the local tier restrictions might be eased to allow this event to take place.

“Unfortunately, while we have hoped for an announcement on 10th December that might ease some local restrictions, this is now expected on 16th December, which will be too late for these showings.

“We are looking to make a further call on showings for other dates following an announcement from the Government.”

Lichfield Cathedral spokesperson

Refunds are being offered for the event, but people are being asked to consider donating the cost of their ticket for the cancelled sessions.

“Initially we made this event non-refundable, knowing that as a charity we just could not afford to refund all 12,000 tickets.

“However, times are tough for everyone, especially so close to Christmas, and we have agreed that refunds will be offered to those who wish to claim them.

“We would ask, as we did when we had to cancel Poppy Fields in November, that if you could afford to give your ticket price as a donation to the upkeep of our beautiful cathedral, we would be extremely grateful.

“Very generously almost 40% of ticket holders for Poppy Fields agreed to donate their ticket cost, which meant we could recover some of the costs we had incurred.

“These events are not a money-maker for the cathedral, we simply put them on for people’s enjoyment – any ‘profit’ made from the events go directly to day-to-day costs and ensuring there is a future for the cathedral for generations to come.”

Lichfield Cathedral spokesperson