Popular charity music festival Balstock has been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, its organisers have confirmed.

The Baldock-based festival would have been celebrating its 14th year this September, but the COVID-19 pandemic has left its organisers with little choice but to postpone the event into 2021.

In a statement on Facebook, organiser G La Roche said: “We promised that we would make a Balstock 2020 announcement in early June.

“Unfortunately, it’s probably not the news you were hoping for. We’ve decided the responsible option would be to move Balstock 2020 to September 10, 11 and 12 of 2021, effectively moving this year’s festival into what would have been our fallow year.

“This has been an agonising decision to make, which the Balstock committee has debated thoroughly for the last couple of months. As much as we know everyone could really do with that September lift and local businesses might need that shot in the arm, we feel the safety aspect should be above all other factors.

“If public gatherings and pub gigs are even going to be allowed by September, there is still that indelible burden of risk. No one wants to feel they could be responsible for anyone’s ill health.

G La Roche added: “We’d like to say a big thank you and an equally big sorry to all the bands that have applied and to everyone who put charity suggestions forward. We will do our best to prioritise these charity suggestions for next year, if possible.

“Big up to Baldock’s publicans for aiding us in coming to a decision. These guys are really gonna need all our support in the coming months to get back on track.

“I hope everyone understands our position and can respect the decision.”