ORGANISERS of a popular walking tour festival refused to let the coronavirus pandemic get in their way and took their events to the public online.

Due to social distancing and lockdown rules, Walk Colchester's annual Jane's Walk events had to be cancelled earlier this month.

But rather than give up on 2020's programme, organisers decided to go virtual, moving several of the planned events online and creating a raft of content for supporters to enjoy.

One of the walk organisers Dorian Kelly said: "We had to cancel it for a variety of well understood reasons, but Rowena Macauley did the most fantastic job of virtualising it.

"I was going to do one of my signature performance walks called 'The Astonishing History of Colchester in Eleven Acts', with lots of pop-up performances, music and poetry.

"I couldn't do that so I made seven short video extracts which I think were quite entertaining and successful.

"In the interests of staying at home, I had a lot of fun fabricating seven short walk videos in my back garden, one for each day of the festival."

Jane's Walks is named after Jane Jacobs, an author and activist best known for her influential book the Death and Life of Great American Cities.

Her life is remembered across the world each year with Jane’s Walk, a series of walking tours through towns and cities.

Colchester was one of the first in this country to embrace the idea back in 2011 and now has one of the most diverse programmes in the world.

Mr Kelly said: "Jane was a huge believer in the idea that people who choose to live in communities should live well, and in harmony with their surroundings.

"Jane’s Walks encourage people to share stories about their neighbourhoods, discover unseen aspects of their communities, and use walking as a way to connect with their neighbours."

Mr Kelly praise Ms Macauley for her amazing work getting the festival up and running online.

He said: "Virtual festivals are much more difficult to organise than real ones.

"Next year's festival, with a good wind, will take place in the real world though, and it will be on and around the first weekend in May."

To catch up on the events from Jane's Walk 2020, visit walkcolchester.org.uk/janes-walk-2020.