AN ANNUAL science festival which has attracted thousands of people to Dunbar will not take place in 2017.

Award-winning Dunbar SciFest has been a hit to visitors from throughout the county and beyond.

However, Dee Davison, Dunbar SciFest creator and creative director, confirmed that the event would not take place this year, although plans were being drawn up to ensure it returned in 2018.

She said: “For a variety of reasons, the voluntary organising team of Dunbar SciFest has made the very, very difficult decision to not hold our community science festival in March 2017, but we plan to come back bigger, better and in a different format in 2018.

“Our community science festival’s voluntary organising team has agreed that we need to review and reconsider how best to deliver the family weekend and adult programme components of our festival programme.

“We have concluded that we need to take a one-year break and not to deliver Dunbar SciFest in 2017 in order to develop a new festival format and programme for 2018 that will have increased pulling power throughout our catchment area (Lothians, Edinburgh, Scottish Borders) and be less vulnerable to poor weather, in order to deliver increased audience numbers and increased economic impact for the town of Dunbar and the county of East Lothian.

“This break will also provide us with an opportunity to secure charitable status for Dunbar SciFest.”

The community science festival, held at Dunbar Primary School and the town’s Bleachingfield Community Centre last year, has proven popular since it was launched 2011.

Then, it was a half-day event but it has grown to a 10-11-day annual event, attracting almost 40,000 people over the last six years.

Core funding for the event is provided by East Lothian Council’s signature event fund and by the research and science engagement team within the Office of the Chief Scientific Advisor of the Scottish Government.

Further funding has come from the town’s community council, as well as organisations such as the British Science Association, the Royal Society of Chemistry Science in Town Centres Fund; the Scottish Funding Council (Innovation Grant) and the Institute of Physics.

Similarly, a number of groups such as EDF Energy (Torness), Community Windpower and Viridor Waste Management have sponsored the event.

Mrs Davison added: “Dunbar SciFest is a grassroots initiative that has created a nationally important community science festival that’s grown annually and attracted extensive media interest and coverage. Dunbar SciFest has won a number of UK awards.

"Dunbar SciFest has brought significant benefits to the local community, including the Dunbar Science Club that delivers three consecutive hour-long workshops every fortnight between September and June annually.”

Iain Gray MSP described it as “disappointing news” while George Kerevan MP described Dunbar SciFest as “one of the highlights of my year”.

Mr Gray, a former physics teacher, told the Courier: “This is disappointing news because Dunbar SciFest has been such a successful and pioneering event which I have been pleased to support over the years.

“However, I can certainly understand why the organisers would decide to take a break for a year.

“It has been a tremendous success but has also continued to expand year on year, which I am sure must make it a huge undertaking for volunteers to organise.

“Knowing the dedication and determination of the people involved in making SciFest happen, I am confident that it will be even better when it returns and I look forward to seeing their plans for next year.”

Meanwhile, Mr Kerevan planned to meet with the SciFest team next week and was hoping to help.

He added: “It really is very special – a festival designed for children, centred on Dunbar Primary School, and produced to professional standards using an army of volunteers.

“It is inspiring to see how it captures the children’s imagination through such a variety of different challenges.

“I am very disappointed to hear that it may not be happening this year, though I can see that it is a huge undertaking to finance and organise.

“Maybe the team behind it needs to take a break and regroup.

“I have a meeting to discuss the festival scheduled for next week and will see what I can do to help.”