Organisers of the Boswell Book Festival have expressed their “disappointment” after their planned socially distanced drive-in festival was cancelled on safety grounds.

The Drive-In Festival was set to held on October 9-11 at the historic Turnberry Airfield where a rich mix of authors had been signed up to tell compelling stories including best-selling Yorkshire shepherdess Amanda Owen and award-winning journalist Melanie Reid and Sally Magnusson.

However, the event at the airfield has been cancelled as a result of safety concerns.

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It comes as the number of COVID-19 cases rise across the country with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon “concerned” over the increase.

Festival director, Caroline Knox, said: “We are extremely disappointed because we had a fantastic line-up of authors who were so excited about coming, not to mention a very eager crowd of followers who were anticipating the event with great enthusiasm.

“However, these are very fast-moving times and we completely respect the decision made.”

A significant amount of organising had gone into the drive-in festival before its subsequent cancellation.

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Speakers were set to be on a raised stage with an eight metre LED screen in order to ensure all those set to attend would not miss out on any of the action and the organisers had also developed a ‘touch free’ entry system for safety while pre-ordered food and drink would have been delivered through car windows.

Despite the setback, organisers say the planning has been beneficial and are still keen to mark the festival’s 10th anniversary by hosting a virtual event online.

Caroline said: “We have every intention of celebrating our 10th anniversary year with a virtual festival over the same weekend as the drive-in was planned for.

“We learned a huge amount from planning this festival which is a bonus because next year we know what to do if we are faced with a similar situation.”

Trump Turnberry and South Ayrshire Council were both contacted for comment but at time of publication had yet to respond.