A PUB’S plans for a summer Christmas have been welcomed with open arms by people in the community ­— and further afield.

Charles and Ainsley Wood, landlords of the Grey Goat Inn in Baggrow, decided that they would forgo the Christmas events this year, instead they would celebrate next summer instead.

Covid-19 permitting, that is.

“By then, the day itself might not be do-able, but let’s pin our hopes on something, let’s have something to build on,” said Mr Wood.

“There isn’t going to be an exchange of presents and there isn’t going to be carolling.

“All the things that we enjoy are going to be missing, not just for businesses, but for everyone.”

The pair decided to move their Christmas celebrations to June 25, 2021, after they were suddenly reminded of another summer Christmas event they had held before.

Following a year that has been difficult to many rural communities and small businesses, the plans for a summer Christmas is something for everyone to look forward to.

Mr Wood said: “It was meant to be something for our pub and our community which is very isolated.

“It was just something to try and give something back, to try and make sense of what the light at the end of the tunnel looks like.

“The idea was to just move Christmas six months into the year.”

So, what will their summer Christmas festivities look like?

The exact same as a traditional winter Christmas.

“We’re going to have our normal Christmas,” said Mr Wood.

“We’ll put decorations up, we’ll have the jukebox playing lots of Christmas carols, we’ll have a secret Santa within the pub.

“The community normally has a Christmas fair at the village hall, we’ll transfer that from there to here.”

Residents in Baggrow have eagerly shown their support for the plans to move Christmas to the summer.

After an hour of the Facebook post being up, it had been shared more than 50 times.

“I’ve talked to quite a few over the wall as they pass the pub, they’ve all said the same thing ‘it’s brilliant, at least we haven’t lost Christmas.’”

What started as something that the Grey Goat was doing to raise spirits among residents has been picked up by other businesses across the entire county ­— and even further afield.

“It was just a silly idea for our pub,” he said. “Everybody said ‘we like that, can we do it?’

“The idea for businesses, and communities, is we all do it together and we don’t look daft.”

If you’re interested in getting involved, join the Facebook group Covid can’t stop Christmas.