Organisers of a music and dance festival are about to call it a day, ending a tradition that goes back 120 years.

Two years of disruption from the Covid-19 pandemic, coupled with dwindling numbers of competitors and a lack of volunteers to run the event, have forced the organisers of Colne’s Luther Greenwood Festival to call it quits.

Their decision is expected to be confirmed at the festival’s annual general meeting next month, and the remaining money in the bank will be given to organisations in Pendle which promote music and dance for young people.

Festival chairman Eric Beardsworth said: “It was an extremely sad decision that we’ve had to make, but over the past couple of years it has become inevitable.

“The music festival has been losing money for several years, because we had to pay for accompanists and adjudicators even when we had smaller audiences and fewer competitors paying their entry fees.

“The dance festival had been doing well until it was disrupted by the pandemic, and this year’s event which was due over Jubilee weekend didn’t attract enough competitors so it’s had to be cancelled.”

Lancashire Telegraph: Luther GreenwoodLuther Greenwood

Colne’s festival tradition began in 1900, when “The First Annual Music Competition” was held, with choirs competing at the old Cloth Hall and violinists at Dockray Street Congregational School.

The festival grew to include solo singers, then elocution, drama and dance, and in its heyday audiences would pack Colne Municipal Hall to see the finals.

In 1947, the festival was renamed the Luther Greenwood Memorial Festival as a posthumous honour to the long-serving conductor of Colne Orpheus Glee Union men’s choir, who had brought fame to Colne.

The AGM, at the Peter Birtwistle Centre, Keighley Road, Colne, on Tuesday May 3, is open to anyone interested.

For further enquiries call 01282 867152.