WILL this year's “LedFest” Ledbury Carnival be the last carnival in town, because of the lack of committee members?

With this year's free programme "hot off the press" and available in various outlets, carnival committee chairman Hilary Jones is warning that the future of Ledbury's single biggest one-day event, after this year's carnival, is in the balance.

Several long-standing committee members, including Mrs Jones, plan to stand down at this year's AGM, in the autumn, following this year's carnival.

She said: "We do need new committee members, this year. If there is no committee to run it, the carnival can't continue.

"There are specific tasks people can do, and there's a little group of us, six or seven, doing all those jobs."

She added: "It really is crucial that we have a new committee. Without people running, the carnival won't happen in the future."

The countdown is on for this year's Ledbury Carnival, on August Bank Holiday Monday, August 27.

As always, it will be the single biggest one-day event during Ledbury’s calendar year, bringing huge crowds of fun-seekers to the town centre.

The theme of LedFest will be a celebration of festivals in general, from Glastonbury to religious festivals, and everything in-between.

Ledbury Carnival often attracts up to 10,000 people, or more, to the town centre, and each carnival costs in the region of £10,000 to stage.

Funds will be boosted by raffle-ticket sales in Ledbury town centre every Saturday leading up to carnival day, and there will also be raffle-ticket sales at Tesco's on the Saturday of the Bank Holiday weekend.

Funds will also come from bucket collections on the day.

The weeks leading up to the LedFest Carnival, the 44th to take place in the town, since its revival in the 1970s, will see a shop window competition, to help promote the Ledfest theme.

All entertainment at the carnival, as ever, will be free, and attractions will include a samba band and, by popular request, the local rock band Frontrunner, on the big stage in the town centre.

Anyone seeking more information about joining the carnival committee should phone 07779 432289.