Rowans Hospice summer fete in Southsea is cancelled '“ but it will be backÂ

The Rowans Hospice was set to take over Castle Field in Southsea from 10am until 4pm. 

However because of heavy rain and wind the team behind the fixture have made the decision to cancel. 

The palliative care charity's CEO, Ruth White, has issued an apology to more than 2,500 people who had expressed interest in attending on social media. 

Speaking to The News, she said: '˜After weeks and weeks of dry sunny days we had been worrying about people coming along to the fair being too hot '“ not this. 

'˜It's a great disappointment to have to cancel today, but all we can do is thank everybody for their support until this point. 

'˜We had 70 stallholders lined up and thousands of people who had reacted with the event on Facebook. 

'˜But it wouldn't have been right to expect all them to come out in this weather '“ so to everyone who was going to attend, I'd say this is an opportunity to enjoy a nice day indoors with the family and friends who you were going to bring along in the first place.' 

Despite today's setback, the hospice has said it is in talks with Portsmouth City Council to reschedule the fair for September '“ which has happened once before in a previous year. 

Ruth said: '˜We are in contact with the council who have given us some dates to choose from, but in the meantime we'll probably have to do a few cake sales. 

'˜We had to cancel the event once before, so it ended up being a late-summer / early-autumn fair at Purbrook Heath around September time. 

'˜That turned out to be a gorgeous day, so we are hoping when we return this will be the same.' 

Rowans has urged its followers to keep up to date with its social media channels for details of cake sales set to be held soon.