It’s not just music festivals suffering

Arts festivals in towns and cities across Britain are suffering just as much as music festivals (Summer festivals are crying out for help – but the Tories don’t want to hear it, 20 June). The one in Wirksworth, Derbyshire, which has taken place for more than 30 years, centres on a “town trail” of more than 130 artists in 100 residents’ homes and public spaces, as well as curated exhibitions, performance, music, food stalls etc. As with a music festival, it takes us many months to put together, but again this year we will not be able to welcome the 5,000 people who used to visit the town on a September weekend. One of the reasons is worry about Covid-19 being passed on in people’s homes, but insurance is also a big factor. We just hope that after two years with no festival, people won’t forget us.
Carol Taylor
Chair, Wirksworth festival

• I suspect that the reason hordes of sports fans are allowed to sing together in full voice while choirs are still restricted to socially distanced outdoor groups of up to 30 (Letters, 20 June) is that we are governed by a bunch of populist philistines.
Jennifer Jenkins
London

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