TWO local festivals have been forced to make last minute changes to their planned events.

The Raglan Festival in June has had to cancel the performances by Spandau Ballet's Tony Hadley and Go West because of poor ticket sales while the planned Breakin' Out Festival for Abergavenny's Bailey Park has been postponed to enable a 'headlining mainstream artist' to join the line up of stars already signed up to take part.

The committee behind Raglan Festival, now in its eighth year, will continue with the free events already planned with new additions to the line up.

A spokeswoman said, "It was a very hard decision for the committee to make in cancelling these acts, but to ensure the festival goes ahead next year it was the only option. We have put on some new events so it's still live music with some very good bands.

"Austerity busting free events have now been scheduled at Raglan's Community Centre on both the Saturday and Sunday afternoon, which will create a superb party atmosphere for the whole weekend. "

People who had already bought tickets for the Tony Hadley and Go West gig, King of the Castle and the No Dancing Dads gigs will be given a full refund.

For more information and for tickets, see raglan-festival.org

Meanwhile the eagerly anticipated Urban Music Festival with its strong anti drink, drugs and bullying theme, Breakin' Out will now take place on Saturday, September 8 and promises to be 'bigger and better' than originally anticipated. ?"We have had the opportunity to bring another headlining, mainstream artist to join our already impressive line-up," said a spokesman for the organisers. "Although we are not in a position to announce this artist we feel we could not turn down the opportunity to bring them to Monmouthshire to perform for our young people. 

"We are currently in negotiations with their management for the artist to slot this performance in between their busy recording and filming schedule," ?

Tickets already purchased for the original date will be valid to gain entry into the festival on the new date and anyone with a query is asked to email [email protected]">[email protected] for further information.