Staffordshire Day to go ahead on May 1

The event will be online-only, with a series of activities live-streamed and broadcast on social media, reflecting the restrictions placed on travel and mass gatherings to stop the spread of Covid-19.

Organisers Enjoy Staffordshire, with the support of Staffordshire County Council and other local authority partners, have decided to use Staffordshire Day to help bring communities together, and provide a morale boost while the country remains on lockdown.

Instead of the celebrations of previous years, which featured special events, offers and competitions, the 2020 Staffordshire Day will see a combination of live performances, talks and demonstrations, and classes to get involved with from your living room.

And Enjoy Staffordshire is encouraging anyone who would like to showcase their skills and entertain the county to come forward by emailing their details to info@enjoystaffordshire.com.

Mark Winnington, cabinet member responsible for tourism at Staffordshire County Council and vice chairman of Destination Staffordshire, said: “We all know what a wonderful county Staffordshire is and what truly amazing people we have here, and this is our chance to tell the world.

“This will be our fifth Staffordshire Day but because of coronavirus, it will be very different and why we’re taking our activities online and on social media.

“They’ll include live music performances and poetry readings, history talks, quizzes, and as in previous years, our mug shot campaign.

“As well as showing off the pride we all have in our county as we’ve done on previous days, this year we’ll also be recognising our amazing community spirit.

“This includes promoting the resilience and kindness of local people, organisations and businesses, all making a real difference to people’s lives during the crisis.

“I want everyone to join in, share the posts and show everyone how proud we all are of our great county and wonderful people.”

Last year, over 30,000 people attended Staffordshire Day events, and there were more than 5,700 tweets using #StaffordshireDay, with the hashtag trending nationally for the whole day.

The date, decided by a public vote in 2015, is the anniversary of Josiah Wedgwood setting up his world-famous Staffordshire pottery company in 1759.

Further details of this year’s Staffordshire Day programme can be found at enjoystaffordshire.com/staffordshireday