As reported yesterday, the BBC Blue Peter team made the decision to not hold their South Coast Olympic Torch event on the Isle of Wight.
VB has just heard from the Beeb that the replacement will be Bournemouth.
In their words …
We have re-located the event to Kings Park in Bournemouth, Dorset (BH1 4NN). All those who have been allocated tickets to the Isle of Wight broadcast at 9am will still be able to use them at this location.
The wider event opens to everyone as usual from 10am – 4pm. The event is free and no tickets are required so we do hope people from the Isle of Wight may be able to join us in Bournemouth on the day too.
BBC Production team give VentnorBlog detailed reasons for move
The full details of why the BBC made their decision were revealed to VB last night by the lovely lady in charge of press for BBC Children’s (who is a dream to deal with – a most refreshing change).
She went to their Production unit for the full details, who said …
We did try very hard to find an alternative site on the Isle of Wight, working closely with the Council and other local partners, as the last thing we wanted to do was disappoint families.
We looked at several alternatives but unfortunately most of the other potential sites on the island were also waterlogged or unsuitable to host our event activities.
The weather forecast for the end of the week is also for heavy rain and strong winds which means the situation could deteriorate further before Saturday. This would result in any event being potentially dangerous to build and deliver.
The likely presence of strong winds would also mean that we would have to lower our tent structures and cancel our event. We felt it was better to do that now so that there was more chance for people to make alternative arrangements.
We have therefore taken the difficult decision to look for an alternative site on the mainland where we can hold the event safely. We appreciate this is a disappointment for people on the Isle of Wight and many will not be able to travel to the mainland, but we hope people understand that the health and safety of our audience is always our main priority.
