Question Marks Over Future Of Swindon Festival
Concerns over funding could mean this is the last year of the Swindon Mela Festival.
The South Asian arts and culture festival attracts thousands of people and is described as the biggest free festival in the South West and it's now in its 10th year.
However, this year organisers have had to pull funds from their savings to make sure the event on Saturday 25th August goes ahead.
They're now calling for more donations to keep it going. Chair and Director of the festival, Jaz Buhi said, "In the early years, we had very good sponsorship from large organisations, banks and big companies. But as you know the economic climate is not very good and it's very had to get sponsorship from these companies at the moment.
"In the last couple of years we've been managing with smaller sponsors, some fundraising. But it's come to the stage when this year, we are putting the event on but we're going to be using our reserves. Once you go into your reserves, then it doesn't leave anything in your account."
Organisers have looked at charging for the event which is held in Town Gardens but because it's a public park the council won't let them.
People are being asked to put forward fundraising ideas to help secure the future of the festival and collections will be taken on the day.
More details can be found by clicking here.
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