A popular blues festival which faced the axe has been saved at the last minute by a group of music fans.

Supporters of the of Wallingford's annual Beer and Blues Festival had a touch of the blues themselves when they heard the annual event was about to be scrapped.

The traditional feast of drinking and dancing looked set to hit the rocks after its organisers, the Wallingford Round Table pulled out, to help with the town's huge Millennium Festival in July.

However, the festival - which traditionally coincides with the massive Glastonbury Festival in June - will now go ahead thanks to some of its biggest supporters. Chairman of the new organising committee, Wallingford town councillor John Beeton, said the show must go on.

He added: "We were very disappointed when we heard the Round Table were pulling-out. I had bands prepared to play and I knew we had to go ahead.

"It is Wallingford's only contemporary music festival and is loved by people from the town and from across the country. We couldn't let the town down."

The festival will now be known as the Blues and Beer Festival. Mr Beeton said putting more emphasis on music would help attract a wider audience. The proceeds will be donated to St John's School for its after-school club, and other local causes. Former organiser Tim Fenn, of Wallingford Round Table, said: "We thought we would have a break this year in order to help with the Wallingford Millennium Festival.

"It would have put too much pressure on us to do both."

Story date: Monday 10 April

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