FOLLOWING news that this year's John Bonham festival has been cancelled organisers say they are already planning something special for next year.

Organisers of John Bonham A Celebration II, who promised the event would be bigger and better than last years, have admitted they would not be able to deliver it to a standard that would do justice to the legend.

Organisers hoped to build on the success of last year's town centre festival, timed to coincide with the unveiling of the John Bonham memorial statue and which helped raise more than £23,000 for the Teenage Cancer Trust.

However, it is now not going ahead.

The decision to cancel was taken after consultation with John Bonham's sister Debbie.

Promoter Ros Sidaway said she was gutted to pull the event.

"We can only apologise to people who have been inconvenienced and were looking forward to what promised to be another memorable event," she said.

"I'm sure we have made the right decision in cancelling this year with a view to providing something even better in future.

"We were doing this in the name of one of the all-time greats of rock music and it would be wrong to deliver anything less than the best."

She added: "John's family recognise this, and we wouldn't want to embarrass them or sell his memory short in any way. It's encouraging that we know people are prepared to travel from all over the world to honour his memory in his hometown."

The good news is that organisers are now planning something special for next year - the 40th anniversary of Bonzo's death.

Anyone locally interested in joining the organising group to help can contact Ros via JohnBonhamAC.com.