AN ORGANISER behind a cancelled village arts festival has said she fears some acts which were due to perform will not survive following the coronavirus outbreak.

Morag Thow, a committee member for the Lochwinnoch Arts Festival, was one of those who was forced to make the upsetting decision to pull the plug on the event this week following government advice.

The festival began on Wednesday, March 4, with a photography exhibition at the library and a couple of music acts put on a show for villagers last weekend.

The official opening was due to take place this evening at the library, with the whole festival set to run until Sunday, March 29.

But as more government advice was released surrounding mass gatherings and protecting older people, organisers were left with no choice but to cancel the remaining events.

And Dr Thow, who began the festival in 2001 as a one-day event, said while she was devastated about having to stop it, she admitted she was more worried about the acts who were lined up to perform.

She said: “I just feel bad for all the acts because that’s their livelihoods, that’s how they get their income by performing.

“We’ve become quite friendly with a lot of them and it’s really quite distressing to see. There’s masses of these people who in the last couple of weeks have gone from having work to having nothing virtually.

“We had started last weekend with some world music events and they went really well. We had a lovely exhibition in the golf club.

“But, it really it felt like there was so much indecision. We could sense that it was going to be weird and quiet and as soon as they started talking about elderly people, that’s about 60 per cent of our audience so we knew we would be affected.

“We are now making efforts to reimburse everyone who has bought tickets.

“We’ve just said we’ll try and replicate what we were going to do this year, next year. I mean, we are just a group of volunteers. I’m more worried about the acts and I just hope everyone can survive this.”

Acts due to perform included Scottish Jazz Awards finalists Rose Room and ‘Queen of Scottish comedy’, Janey Godley.

Also lined-up was the return of the ‘World Scone-noisseur’ competition, which sees food fans from Lochwinnoch and beyond serving up the traditional afternoon tea delights in a bid to be named the best baker.

All online-booked tickets for events will be refunded automatically by Renfrewshire Leisure.

Tickets bought from venues within the village will be refunded at Now and Then gift shop on Monday, March 23, between 1pm and 3pm, and on Tuesday, March 24,  between 10am and noon. People must bring their tickets with them.

Read all the latest from Renfrewshire and beyond