No Newark Blues Festival in 2017

There will be no Newark Blues Festival this year - but organisers hope it will return in 2018.

Last year's three-day event attracted crowds in their thousands to Newark Castle and to pubs around the town despite being beset by rain on the Saturday headline day.

There were more than 50 free blues performances throughout the weekend as well as free workshops for young musicians.

The headline act last year was the critically-acclaimed Ian Siegal Band.

The festival has been nominated four times in the Best Festival category of the prestigious British Blues Awards, finishing as runner-up in the 2012 awards.

It is organised and staged by a group of volunteer musicians and music enthusiasts, including the Pointing family, on a not for profit basis, with the intention of it becoming an established annual event.

'Number of factors'

Mr Darren Pointing said: "After a lot of thought and very careful consideration by members of the Newark Blues Festival committee, it has been decided that Newark Blues Festival will not take place in 2017.

"Considering the huge success of Newark Blues Festival 2016, this decision has not been taken lightly.

"It has been reached as result of a number of factors, both personal and logistical, that mean we would be unable to stage an event this year to the high standards to which everyone has become accustomed.

"Newark Blues Festival is a not-for-profit event, organised completely by unpaid volunteers.

"Unfortunately, other commitments mean that the resources required to organise and stage a high-quality festival in 2017 are not available.

"We hope to be back in 2018, bigger and better than ever."