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Family festival Geronimo cancelled for good as parents slam ‘absolute farce’

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson - 28th June 2024

Geronimo Children’s Festival, a popular family event that was meant to take place in Cheshire this summer, is ‘no more’.

The festival, sometimes dubbed ‘Glastonbury for kids’ has announced that it’s cancelling its summer weekender for the second year running.

In a statement, organisers blamed poor ticket sales due to ‘the great British weather’ and said that all ticket-holders will be refunded.

Its 2023 festival was also cancelled.

Geronimo was set to take place this year at Arley Hall between 23 and 26 August, featuring children’s entertainment, interactive musical experiences, food and more.

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Parents who were looking forward to taking their little ones to the event have now slammed the cancellation as an ‘absolute farce’.

One wrote: “Aww so sorry to hear this we had an amazing time there 2 years ago and we’re so looking forward to going again.”

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Another said: “Sad to see something so amazing 6 years ago has now gone to this.”

Someone else wrote: “No surprise there. Absolute farce.”

In its statement, Geronimo said: “With a heavy heart, we announce that Geronimo Children’s Festival is no more and our scheduled event on 23rd-26th August 2024 has been cancelled. We thank all those involved in it, the directors, staff and artists who all put their hearts and soul into the event.

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“The great British weather is not always kind and with a huge percentage of festival-goers holding off booking until the last week, the event has become an unsustainable financial risk.

“Ticketline will arrange the face value refund of all valid tickets (including those rolled over from previous years) Please note we have no access to ticketholder details and are unable to assist with refunds directly. All ticket enquiries should be addressed to [email protected] or call 0161 813 2222.

“Thank you to all the families, performers and suppliers who made Geronimo Festival a magical experience for so many children over the last decade. We hope you will cherish the memories of your time in our festival fields and wish everyone a wonderful summer.”

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Featured image: Geronimo Festival

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Parents of Dillon Duffy issue urgent appeal to help find missing Oldham teen last seen in London

Danny Jones Danny Jones Missing Oldham teenager Dillon Duffy updates

The parents of missing Oldham teenager Dillon Duffy have issued an urgent appeal to help find their son who disappeared last week.

Dillon Duffy, 18 from Chadderton, was reported missing on Tuesday, 18 June last week after he was thought to be on the way to work.

He was dropped off by his mother outside the local Asda supermarket on Milne Street, saying that he wanted to grab a bottle of water before his shift, but the teen decided instead to jump on a train to Stoke at around 3.35pm from Manchester Piccadilly before boarding another to London.

CCTV footage confirmed the last-known sighting of the youngster arriving at Euston station and the Metropolitan Police‘s missing person unit is now said to have taken charge.

Dillon was last seen wearing the black North Face jacket pictured, as well as black and grey Nike trainers with white soles. Although his head is recently shaved, he is described as having ‘dirty blonde’ hair. It is also thought he could be carrying a large blue Simpsons blanket that is missing from his room.

Speaking to the Oldham Times, mum Donna Duffy said: “It’s obviously a big police area and they’re inundated with missing persons cases, so we’re not really getting anywhere with that at the moment in terms of footage.

“It’s vital that we get some CCTV footage of where he went after Euston station, my sister managed to get some footage for the police but that trail isn’t being chased.

Even more concerningly, Ms Duffy went on to detail that Dillon left a note for his family telling them he was feeling low and that they found internet searches relating to depression.

“We don’t know what frame of mind he’s in”, said Donna, “[but from his Google history it shows he was feeling really low and I’m feeling really sorry for him because I didn’t know he was feeling that way. I just want him to reach out so we can help and support him.”

She also told the MEN that the young man had been deemed “low risk” by police because he is 18 but they are unsure whether he even has money and are worried as there has been no social media activity.

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With Dillon’s father having driven the 200 miles to London immediately and spent six days searching for his son non-stop along with some other friends and family, she admitted the search thus far has taken its toll, with the distressed dad having to come back home “due to his own health.”

He even drove up to Bridlington in Yorkshire due to a hunch based on Dillon’s search history but the pair have now come “come to a standstill”, with Donna adding in a post online that she had been “stood aimlessly in Manchester Picadilly train station” in hopes he might return from the capital.

Numerous accounts across various social media platforms are now trying to spread the word in an effort to locate him. More than 26,000 people have also joined the ‘Help Find Dillon Duffy’ Facebook group and police are urging anyone with information to come forward.

You can also call or text the UK’s official missing persons hotline on 116000 and cite the reference number: 24-096945.

The search for fellow missing teen Jay Slater also continues as efforts to find the 19-year-old from Lancashire have now been stepped up.

Spanish police issue massive appeal for volunteers in search for missing teenager Jay Slater

Featured Images — Family Handouts/GMP/Met Police

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Spanish police issue massive appeal for volunteers in search for missing teenager Jay Slater

Danny Jones Danny Jones Spanish Civil Guard ask for volunteers to help with Jay Slater search

Spanish police have now issued a massive appeal for volunteers to join the search for British teenager Jay Slater.

The 19-year-old from Oswaldtwistle went missing on Monday last week (17 June) and hasn’t been heard from since around 8am that day after his phone died some 37km away from where he was last seen by friends.

Slater had attended the NRG (New Rave Generation) music festival on the island over the weekend but got separated from his friends and his last location was said to be in the mountainous Rural de Teno park area – a popular hiking trail amongst locals – but authorities haven’t been able to pinpoint him since.

With the youngster missing for nearly 12 days, Spain’s Civil Guard has now been called in to help with the search and police in Tenerife have also urged volunteers to step forward as the search grows increasingly desperate.

A mass operation is now underway to help find Jay Slater and the police chief of the Civil Guard in Tenerfire, Angel Sanz Coronado, said in an official statement that local offers and natives are now on the trail, with specialist search dogs also deployed within the search parties.

“Given that it is a steep, rocky area, full of uneven terrain and with many ravines, tracks and trails”, said Coronado, “we request the collaboration of all those volunteer associations that can help in this planned search that is intended to be carried out in a directed and coordinated way.”

“This massive search will begin on Saturday, 29 June at 09:00 hours. A meeting point will be established at the Mirador de la Cruz de Hilda in Masca to start the search in a logical and orderly way along the many paths and ravines that are found in Masca.”

While many have questioned how Slater, an apprentice brick-layer who was on his first trip abroad, ended up so far away from the Veronica’s Strip in the Playa de Las Americas resort and district of Tenerife, the area’s connection to the local drug scene has also added extra cause for concern.

Jay’s friend, Brad, recently spoke to media reporting from the search area in Tenerife and detailed how the Lancashire teen had strayed from the main path and “didn’t seem concerned” when they last spoke. The rescue crew is now sizeable with more family and friends said to be flying over to help.

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Slater’s mum, Debbie Duncan, set up a ‘Get Jay Slater Home’ crowdfunder to help generate additional money to be put towards the search efforts, which has now reached well over £40,000.

Describing her son’s disappearance as every parent’s “living nightmare”, she said in an update on the fundraising page: “We are currently working with GoFundMe to withdraw part of the funds, which are being safely held. I wanted to share that these funds will be used to support the mountain rescue teams who are tirelessly searching for Jay” and help cover the expenses of those staying in Tenerife.”

Elsewhere, family friend Rachel Hargreaves, mother of best mate Brad, has condemned the growing trend of online trolling surrounding his disappearance, with countless social media users making jokes and some even reportedly messaging pretending to be Jay and messaging her son “I miss you”.

With people making claims about Slater’s background and drumming up various conspiracy theories, she went on to tell the BBC: “The stuff people have been saying about us is just not true. We are not those kinds of people at all.”

Featured Images — Handout/Facebook

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