Halifax Piece Hall cancels huge weekend community festival

The first ever Wellness and Community Festival was going to take place on April 27 and 28. It was aimed at helping the local community get active and creative, as well as offering much-needed support services.However a spokesperson for the Piece Hall said: "Due to an unexpected severe weather outlook for this weekend we have had to make the difficult decision to cancel our Wellbeing & Community Festival.

"Our partners delivering the infrastructure have expressed real concern at the predicted Met Office wind speeds and safety of our participants, staff and visitors.

"We have been advised that anything in excess of 25mph will be unsafe for the stalls and tent like structures.

"Current predictions for this evening (Friday) and tomorrow show that we can expect gusts of up to 40mph which could cause harm to people and property.

"Whilst we have learned that the International Food Festival will still go ahead, the Piece Hall is a courtyard and can be a wind tunnel and therefore we have to treat high winds very differently to the street set up which is protected by buildings.

"It is our hope that we will be able to re-schedule this important free family friendly event to later in the year."