LYMM Festival and Lymm Historic Transport Day have both been cancelled to curb the spread of coronavirus.

The festival would have seen a host of community events, concerts, comedy shows and talks as well as a food festival taking place between June 18 to June 28.

The hugely popular Lymm Historic Transport Day was due to take place on June 28 when the likes of historic boats, traction engines and classic cars would have paraded through the village.

Ian Marks, chairman of the festival committee, said: “We have been reviewing the situation carefully in recent weeks hoping something might improve.

"However it is now abundantly clear that the virus will be with us for many weeks and the position is deteriorating.

"We are bitterly disappointed after all the preparatory work that has been put in by the organising team of volunteers.

Two choral events have been cancelled in the last few days because rehearsals of the choirs have had to be stopped.

"Two sponsors have had to pull out because of the effect of the virus on business. Some venues would probably not be available and people would not want to mingle with others at a big outdoor event like our food fest. The public would not want to buy tickets for performances leaving us no choice.

"Our task now is to contact performers, event organisers, venues and sponsors to let them know of our decision.

"This will take us a few days but I would like to assure anyone such as a sponsor that any money they have paid to the Festival will be refunded."

A statement from the Lymm Historic Transport Day team added: "In the light of the guidance given by the government over the past 48 hours and the increasing understanding of just how long the coronavirus issue is likely to be with us we have concluded that there is no alternative but to cancel the June 28 event now.

"A huge amount of work had already gone into preparing for the day for which I thank our management team."

It comes just a day after Lymm Duck Race and Lymm May Queen Festival were called off.