The founder of a popular homegrown music and culture festival has confirmed there are doubts over whether the event can continue.

Richard Johnstone, who has presided over Castle Carrock festival Music on the Marr since it began 10 years ago, explained that it is not yet clear whether the festival can return next year.

The festival, which attracted well in excess of 1,000 people for its 10th anniversary edition this July, is run as a non-profit event but has struggled to break even each year.

Now lifelong Castle Carrock resident Mr Johnstone, 67, has confirmed that he and other organisers of the festival are unsure as to whether Music on the Marr could return for an 11th year.

“We don’t know yet,” he admitted.

“We’ve been cornered really, financially.

“We need to do some more sums to find out where we’re at before we can make any decisions about the future.

“I’d like to think we can go forward but if we continue to lose money then we just can’t.

“Word has got out that it might be the last one - throughout the festival weekend everyone was asking me the same question, but the honest answer is that I don’t know.”

Mr Johnstone said he was particularly keen to do what he can to ensure that Music on the Marr doesn’t disappear, with several similar homegrown festivals in the county having closed down recently.

“Given that festivals left, right and centre have folded, we certainly don’t want it to come to an end.

“But we can’t lose money forever.”

Mr Johnstone did say that the financial situation for Music on the Marr was improved on last year’s, having achieved much stronger ticket sales in 2019 - though at a lower price than the previous year.

This fact has given Mr Johnstone some optimism for the future prospects of the festival.

“We’ll see,” he said. “On the face of it at the moment it looks very much better than it was last year, but I really don’t know yet until we can drill down further.”

The passion Mr Johnstone feels for the festival is clear - particularly its power to bring folk and traditional music to a brand new, younger audience.

“Looking out at our audience this year, you saw a lot of grey heads in each of the tents, the sort of people you would expect to see,” he said.

“But on every night at the weekend, there were lots of young people on the dancefloor.

“Maybe a third of the dancefloor was occupied by people who were under 20.

“I was hugely encouraged by seeing that.

“Sixteen-year-olds dancing to people playing the fiddle - when did you last see that?

“That’s one of the key reasons why I would like to see Music on the Marr continue.

“We just need to work out how, or if, we can keep going.”