A two-day music festival being hosted at Fort William’s shinty ground which had already been postponed has now been cancelled for this year.
Local folk group Manran originally planned the event for April 10 and 11 to celebrate their 10-year anniversary.
As a result of the coronavirus outbreak, it was re-scheduled for July 17 and 18, but now organisers have been forced to cancel it for this year.
A spokeswoman for the event said: “We are heartbroken to confirm that Manran: 10 by the Ben, that was rescheduled to take place on the July 17 and 18, has been cancelled for this year due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
“We are devastated to be making this announcement as it was our wish to bring a new and exciting music event to Lochaber this summer. However, the safety and wellbeing of our attendees, artists and staff are of the utmost importance to us and with the uncertainty around how long the current pandemic will take hold for, alongside the restrictions currently in place, the decision has been taken out of our hands and we have been left with no choice but to cancel this year’s premiere edition.
“This truly is an exceptional situation and it is an incredibly challenging time for all of us. We have however been working hard behind the scenes to put another festival together to replace ‘Mànran: 10 by the Ben’ and we have provisionally booked a further postponed date of Friday – Saturday April 2-3 2021.
“Mànran have confirmed they will be available to headline the Saturday night of next year’s festival and we are in conversations with some other great Scottish acts too. We will be set to confirm the full line-up over the next few months.
“Our team of volunteers have made this their top priority so that we can commit to those that have purchased tickets that these will automatically transfer to the Easter weekend festival next year.
“All ticket buyers have been emailed with the email address used to purchase tickets.”