A LEADING act at the Ross Festival had to be cancelled after a supporting strut of the roof above the stage broke.

Revellers wanting to see Joan Armatrading had to be turned away on Saturday after the damaged strut was discovered in the main marquee.

Festival spokeswoman Blanca Rey-Surman said every effort was made to contact ticket holders before they set off for the show. But she added the singer's fans would still be able to see her.

"We managed to contact a lot of ticket holders for the concerts and we made announcements on the radio to try and warn people, but fans still turned up who had been travelling from all over the country," she said.

"When we rang Joan and told her what was happened she said she would play on Bank Holiday Monday instead.

"She was very determined she was not going to let her fans down and organised the new performance with her band straight away.

"She even put off a prior arrangement so that she could be here on Monday at 5pm."

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