Halloween Derry & Strabane 2020 : Cooper welcomes preparations for community festival events

The preparations have begun by carrying out test firing of fireworks from a variety of locations in the city this week.

Colr. Cooper said he was delighted that his proposal for the Council to deliver programmes in local communities due to the impact of Covid was now bearing fruit.

He said: “At the Business and Culture Committee several months ago there was a long discussion on whether we could do anything for Hallowe’en this year due to Covid restrictions.

“Clearly hosting a large city centre event for thousands of people was not practical due to the Covid restrictions. This was why I instead proposed that the Council should deliver smaller, well managed events in local communities which would give local residents the chance to still enjoy Hallowe’en and give local traders the chance to still benefit as well.

“The fireworks testing events this week also demonstrate that council intend to still include fireworks within the local programmes which will visually enhance the events taking place across the city.

“I look forward to further details of local programmes being announced in the coming weeks and months.”