Write a commentNewry Feis and Newry Drama Festival are the latest high profile events in Newry to suffer from the ongoing Coronavirus outbreak and Newry, Mourne and Down Council have called an emergency meeting tomorrow to discuss. The council has already cancelled their St Patrick's Day Concert in Newry Town Hall as well as the annual parade.
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Newry Feis opened 14 February and was due to continue into May with thousands of entrants due to compete at the town hall and the Sean Hollywood Arts Centre.
In a comment on their Facebook page a spokesperson said "None of us ever expected to have to post a message like this... But, these are exceptional times and the health and wellbeing of each and every one of our performers, audience members, teachers, adjudicators, accompanists, voluntary helpers, and Committee members must come first.
The comment continued "It has been one of the hardest things we have ever had to do... we know how much our performers gain from the time they spend with us each year. We have made every effort in the past 24 hours to contact directly everyone closely involved with Feis 2020. Apologies if we have missed anyone out. Please share this post with others who may not have liked our Page in the past. We hope that everyone who needs to know this news will find out as soon as possible..."
Newry Drama Festival was also due to run at Newry Town Hall from 23 till 28 March with 6 nights of drama from drama groups throughout Ireland.
Tomorrows special council meeting will discuss Emergency Response to Coronavirus Covid-19
The meeting was called by council chairperson Charlie Casey and will take place at 4pm tomorrow in the Mourne Room, Downshire Civic Centre.
