Dover Community Regatta is the latest in a long line of events to be cancelled amid the ban on mass gatherings to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

The fiesta of all things nautical was originally planned to take place along Dover seafront and Western Docks on Sunday 9th August 2020 but has now been axed after "much discussion, waiting and hoping".

This morning the port's chief commercial officer Barbara Buczek said: “We look forward each year to organising the Port of Dover Community Regatta, which sees around ten thousand people packing our seafront.

It takes months of planning and under the current circumstances, with the clear and continuing need to maintain social distancing, we must follow the only sensible path other large scale events have been taking, and that is to cancel.

"We are grateful to everyone who has helped make it such a popular event over the last few years and look forward to welcoming many more people in the years ahead when we are past the current situation.

"For now, we must uphold our social responsibility to support the nation’s focus on tackling the spread of COVID-19 whilst also ensuring our core port operations can continue to bring in the food, medicine and other essential resources our country needs.”

Other events in the district to be cancelled include Dover Carnival, the Marines on the Green concert in Walmer, Clifftop Challenge in Deal, and a raft of events in Sandwich including the Salutes the 40s event, Folk n Ale Festival and The 149th Open golf championship at Royal St George's Golf Club.

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