THE organisers of an annual wool festival have created an online event which will be held next week.

Woolfest 2020, in Cockermouth, was cancelled early in lockdown but the past few weeks have seen the organisers, members of The Wool Clip cooperative, working hard to create an online version.

“We want to support as many of the businesses that would have been at Woolfest as we can,” said Marion Rae, one of the organisers. “We also need to promote our own work as Wool Clip members and we are keen to keep up Woolfest’s reputation as a friendly event and the original British festival of wool.”

Woolfest Online 2020 is an active Facebook group with a membership heading towards 2,000. The online event will run in six sessions, starting at 2pm on Thursday, June 25. The event, which is usually held at Mitchell’s Lakeland Livestock Centre, will run through Friday and Saturday, finishing with a session on Sunday morning from 10am to noon.

“We have over 90 of the businesses that would have been at Woolfest taking part as well as a lot of the other elements that make Woolfest special,” said organiser Debbie Lucas.

“There’ll be acoustic music, charity posts from Eden Valley Hospice, RBST and CLIC Sargent, fashion shoots from Grampus, craft demonstrations and even the traditional clog dancing running throughout the four days.

“The Saturday morning session will be dedicated to fleece and livestock with lots of the sheep breed societies taking part with videos, images and information.

“All in all, we’re hoping to capture the atmosphere, help small craft businesses to find new customers and, of course, encourage even more people to plan for a visit to Woolfest next year.”

For more information, including a full schedule of stallholder posts, go to www.woolfest.co.uk.