04/09/07 - John Lennon Northern Lights Festival

Some of Britain's greatest artists are to travel to a tiny highland village to pay homage to John Lennon in what will be one of the most extraordinary festivals ever to be staged in the country.

The organisers of the John Lennon Northern Lights Festival at Durness have cancelled one of the programme's events.

The 'rave in the cave' dance event in Smoo Cave was due to take place on Saturday, September 29, but will now no longer do so.

Organisers have been in regular contact with Highland Council and the Durness community over the past months regarding several health and safety aspects of using the cave for this late night event.

But organisers informed Durness Community Council at the weekend that it had decided to cancel the rave after receiving a request from Highland Council - only in the previous few days - as part of the overall risk assessment, to comment on the risk of falling rocks caused by the effects of loud music in the cave.

Organisers decided that the only way they could satisfactorily comment on such a risk was by engaging experts.

Given the limited timescale to carry out a satisfactory assessment - and it's likely large expense - organisers have reluctantly withdrawn the free event from this year's programme.

"It was always going to be challenging to stage this particular event in such a natural venue," said a spokesman for the festival.

"To carry out a proper risk assessment would have involved us finding suitable experts in acoustics and possibly other disciplines. Health and safety is paramount and has always been at the forefront of our discussions with the various interested parties involved.

"But to put the thing in perspective we have lost just one of more than 80 events in the festival - with much of the programme aimed at young people."

The other events in the cave are all in the day time and include the tv children's entertainer Mr Boom, John Lennon's original skiffle band The Quarrymen, pop duo Nizlopi, the poet Kevin MacNeil and tv actor Andrew Harrison performing a one-man play about environmentalist John Muir. They are all are unaffected and will take place - weather permitting! They are either purely acoustic events or do not involve loud music.

The festival, which is being held in John Lennon's Scottish childhood village - and is endorsed by his family - will be held between September 28-30. Tickets have been selling well. With just over three weeks to go, only a third of the tickets are left, with people from around the world, including the USA and Canada, having booked.

Among those also taking part are chart toppers Nizlopi, King Creosote, Mr Hudson and the Library, the Queen's Master of Music Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, poets Carol Ann Duffy and John Cooper Clarke and singers Julie Fowlis, Blazin Fiddles and Donnie Munro.

More than 20 bands will also be playing at various venues. The event also includes film, theatre, writers and children's entertainers.

Legendary beat poet Michael Horovitz will even give a reading at Cape Wrath - mainland Britain's most remote and north westerly lighthouse.

Details and tickets for the festival are at www.northhighlandsscotland.com/festival or 01971511777 (10am-5pm) (SPECIAL REQUEST PLEASE LEAVE IN THESE DETAILS).

ENDS