Organisers have made an early decision to call off the Manx Music Festival for this year.

Better known as the Guild, the festival has become another casualty of the current Covid-19 crisis, with the organisers saying that they have made the decision now in the best interests of the safety and the welfare of the audiences.

They were also concerned that the current lockdown measures would mean that performers wanting to take part in this year’s festival wouldn’t have enough time to rehearse or prepare.

The current travel restrictions also meant that the organisers would be unable to invite professional adjudicators from the UK.

Event chairman Anne Clarke said: ’We appreciate that many people will be disappointed by this news as we were hopeful that this year’s Festival could go ahead as planned, however, sadly it is not to be.

’We hope everyone can understand why we’ve had to take this difficult decision and would like to assure you that, pandemic permitting, the Guild will be back bigger, better and stronger than ever in the 130th year since its inception.’ The pandemic also forced the cancellation of the Guild last year, with social restriction measures forcing the organising committee to move the festival online.

More details are available from manxmusicfestival.org