Rock4Life music festival cancelled

Rock4Life music festival cancelled
Rick Parfitt and Francis Rossi of Status Quo
Status Quo were among the acts due to appear at the event

A new music festival in the Highlands which was to feature veteran rockers Status Quo has been cancelled.

Rock4Life was due to be held on 1 May at Whiteness, near Ardersier, and raise money for the Highland Hospice.

The second day of the two-day event, at which pop acts Sugababes and McFly were due to appear, had already been cancelled because of poor ticket sales.

Highland Council confirmed they had now been told by organisers the festival would no longer be going ahead.

Rock4Life was expected to attract a crowd of about 20,000.

A spokesman for Highland Council said they had been informed the decision to call off the entire event was taken due to the "knock-on effect" from the loss of the second day, which created a cash-flow problem.

Hospice benefit

He said: "Everything was in place for the event to go ahead and the organisers had the proper permissions.

"This has come as a disappointment."

The website for the festival, which was organised by Caledonian Productions, has been shut down.

David Welch, fundraising director for Highland Hospice, said: "At the end of the day we were to benefit from the profits for the event.

"We didn't know how much that was going to be and it is not something we budgeted for, but we are disappointed if it isn't going to go ahead."