A VILLAGE carnival is under threat if new volunteers cannot be found to help stage it.

The annual event at Middleton in Teesdale is usually held in the first weekend in August, but planning and preparations begin long before then.

The carnival committee will meet on Thursday at 7pm in the village school, but unless more people are prepared to help, the event will have to be dramatically scaled down or maybe even cancelled.

Only five members attended the last agm, with no response from residents despite appeals for aid.

Committee member Mrs June Kneller told the D&S Times this week that five people could not continue to run a full scale event.

"We will have to look closely at what form this year's carnival will take if no-one is prepared to come forward," she said