CONCERT BLOW

The organisers had been hopeful of staging the first WOMAD event this summer but the festival has now been shelved for 2010 at least after vital funding could not be secured.

Robert Gibson, a co-director of Leslie Hill Productions, said he was disappointed but options for organising a future event will be examined.

Mr Gibson said: "The first thing to say is that, conventionally, in trying to put together such a major event from a standing start in about nine months, we were attempting something very ambitious.

"Bringing on board WOMAD, a global operator with almost 30 years' experience of holding festivals around the world, enabled us to consider it on such a timescale.

"Though we were seeking to create a sustainable annual event, we did need some financial support in the start-up phase, and in theory the Major Events Fund, administered by Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure and Northern Ireland Tourist Board was a logical place to try.

"However, we understand that it was very heavily oversubscribed this year, and we failed to secure funding from this source. Accordingly we have decided that we should shelve plans for this year, and reconsider our options for organising a future event.

"We know that many others share our disappointment in not being able to proceed this year. However, we should also reflect on the fact that we have come a very long way in a short time, and that if we do seek to hold a festival next year, what we have learnt, the people we have met, and the goodwill shown to us will all hold us in good stead.

"WOMAD remains committed to working with us if we do decide to proceed in the foreseeable future, and we retain a strong belief that WOMAD's world music format, and its ethos, would be a wonderful addition to the cultural and events scene in Northern Ireland. We would also expect a festival of the anticipated scale to bring opportunities for the local economy and population.

"We would like to express our thanks to everyone who has helped and supported us - especially many people in and around Ballymoney, and within Ballymoney Borough Council.

"Our website, www.womadireland.co.uk, will remain live, and we invite anyone with an interest in future events to visit it, and leave contact details," said Mr Gibson.

In February Mr Gibson told the Times the proposed 'world music' festival aimed to bring several thousand fans to the Leslie Hill estate.

The plan was to open up the grounds of the estate for a WOMAD (World of Music, Arts and Dance) festival, similar to several events which have ran successfully in a number of countries around the world.

The event was billed as a family-type festival with people of all ages invited to come along and stay in tent villages in the grounds of Leslie Hill where as well as the music they could experience international cuisine, arts and crafts.

A main stage would have been erected near the main house at Leslie Hill aiming to capture the natural amphitheatre of the open-air setting.

It was envisaged it would be a three day event.

The organisers said because it is a family event they did not get the same sort of problems sometimes encountered with dance and rock concerts.

WOMAD Festival Director Chris Smith told the Times in February that out of 40,000 people who attended one of their festivals in England last year there were only four reports of crime and one of those was for "the theft of a packet of Hobnobs".

Also speaking to the Times in February, Robert Gibson had said: "If were to put on a rock festival I think we would have found a lot of concern but what we are doing is a very different sort of thing.

"World music is about diverse world music coming together. People do clean up after themselves and litter is put in bins. It is not a noisy dirty rock festival, it is much more gentle."

Chris Smith had said: "It is a family event and is a music festival for all the family with children welcome. It is about artists and an exchange of cultures. There will also be arts and crafts, food tasting, on-site bars and a 'healing' area. It will have a 'one world' theme. If you come along with your wife and children it tends to self-police itself."

Robert Gibson had said: "WOMAD is not rowdy rock. It is not a rave. The ethos of the Leslie Hill Open Farm is family and the ethos of the Festival will be family orientated."

Leslie Hill Productions was set up by John Leslie and Robert Gibson.

The organisers had previously said the festival is a huge cash undertaking and they were working with public funders to help bolster the financial side of things.

Funding is crucial they admitted and said all parts of the cash jigsaw would not be known until possibly the end of March. That has now come to pass and without a cash injection the plans have now been put on hold.