AMBITIOUS plans for major street theatre to celebrate King Alfred’s last journey have been abandoned.

Prohibitive costs have forced the organisers of Hyde 900 to kill off plans for the event scheduled for the late May Bank Holiday.

Organisers had envisaged an ambitious pageant involving hundreds of actors and musicians and an audience of thousands through the streets of the city centre as the centrepiece of the celebrations to mark the 900th anniversary of the great king’s final burial in 1110 at Hyde Abbey.

But organisers now say the costs were too high and the recession had hit their ability to raise funds.

Bob Shannon, who won the competition to write the work, expressed his unhappiness about the collapse of the pageant. He spent three months working on the 120-page script which had the working title of The Winchester Riddles.

Mr Shannon, a copywriter, of Salisbury Road, Alresford, said: “I was extremely disappointed. I wanted to see something magnificent on the streets of Winchester.

“I have always found Winchester lacking in a spirit of enterprise.

When things come to the final crunch, it never quite comes off.

“The Hat Fair is now a great success, but in the 1980s it seemed to be disregarded. The Winchester Passion in 2008 was magnificent, but was driven by the churchgoers.

“I think this is a huge missed opportunity. It was an opportunity for Winchester to do something magnificent.”

He added: “If I had been working with a theatre company I would have been angry, but people at Hyde 900 were giving their own time and effort.”

The pageant was due to be the highlight of the Hyde 900 celebrations, a community-led initiative to mark the 900th anniversary of the transfer of King Alfred’s body from the Old Minister to Hyde Abbey in 1110.

There will be a more low-key procession from the cathedral to Hyde Abbey Gardens on Saturday, March 13.

Ron Allison, chairman of Hyde 900, said: “We are disappointed not to go ahead with the pageant as originally conceived.

“We were all for it, but various financial considerations, particularly the recession, made it impossible.”

High cost was also a factor in dropping plans for two other events: a medieval banquet in the Great Hall will instead be held at Winchester Rugby Club on April 24. A music festival in River Park has also been shelved.

The centrepiece of Hyde 900 will now be a unique exhibition of the Treasures of Hyde Abbey in the Discovery Centre from March.

It brings together priceless artefacts from museums and collections across the country.

Complementing the main treasures show at the Discovery Centre will be a spin-off ‘Imagining the Treasures’, which features original artwork inspired by the artefacts.Venues are Winchester Cathedral: February 15- March 26; City Space at the Discovery Centre and the Link Gallery, West Down Centre: March 6-April 18.

A special ecumenical service at St Bartholomew’s church in Hyde on March 7 at 6pm will mark the start of the celebrations.

Mr Allison added: “Overall, I’m delighted with what we have achieved. I’m disappointed not to fulfil all expectations but there are events in the arts, music, the procession, the annual cycle ride.”

Barbara Large, a member of the pageant committee and director of the Winchester Writers’ Conference, said: “Much professional time was spent on this and its disappointing this outstanding project has disappeared for now.

“It would have been a wonderfully creative thing for Winchester, but possibly it was over-ambitious.”

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