Very sad news; the organisers of Oxford Folk Festival yesterday announced that the 2011 event is no longer taking place. In their own words:

“Despite having booked a great roster of artists for this year a number of factors are making it impossible for us to hold the festival in 2011. In the current economic climate people are, understandably, more reluctant to commit their hard-earned cash to buy tickets in advance, whilst also costs have increased, with the VAT rise contributing amongst other factors.

“We have made as many economies as we can but with the increasing costs of venue and equipment hire, insurance and so on it ís simply not financially feasible to continue the festival this year.

“We really hope to be back in the future and, in the meantime, we wish to express our sincere thanks for your support during the 8 years since we started.

“We assure you that all tickets sold already will be refunded, and we will not breach the trust we have built with our customers and suppliers at any price.”

This is obviously sucky news. Here’s hoping that the Festival is back next year, and will be bigger and better than ever.