Celebrations to mark 1,000 years since the founding of the abbey in Bury St Edmunds have been postponed again due to the coronavirus pandemic.

A schedule of events had been planned for 2020 to celebrate the anniversary of the Abbey of St Edmund being founded by King Canute.
In a statement, organisers said: "In light of the continuing uncertainty around the global pandemic, the Abbey 1000 Group has taken the decision to postpone all of the events planned for the 1,000th anniversary of the founding of the Abbey of St Edmund until 2022."

Chairman Libby Ranzetta said the Abbey 1000 Group had taken the decision to postpone the celebratory events again so that the group could hopefully provide a full programme of events in 2022.

She said: “At this time there is a lot of uncertainty around when the current national lockdown will end and what government restrictions and guidance will be in place afterwards which made the planning of events, which were due to start in April, very difficult.

"It has become increasingly clear that we could not hold the full programme in 2021 and we want the year to have a celebratory feel which is just not possible at present.

“There is good reason to be optimistic that 2022 will be much better with vaccines and treatments for Covid being rolled out and we are looking forward to putting on an even more exciting programme of events that everyone can enjoy.”

The celebrations are being coordinated by the Abbey 1000 Group, alongside the Abbey of St Edmund Heritage Partnership.