A major fundraising event in Harrogate has been cancelled for the second year running due to covid.

The Firecracker Ball has raised £3 million for children’s charity Barnardo’s since 2002.

The spectacular event, which is usually held at Rudding Park Hotel in November, is also one of the highlights of the social calendar.

Each year the ball adopts a different theme in the hope of encouraging people to donate and get involved in the charity auction too.

Barnardo’s, which organises the annual event, has assured people it will return in 2022. In a statement the organising committee said:

“The Firecracker committee reluctantly decided that the Firecracker Ball 2021 had to once more be postponed until we are able to hold our usual spectacular event in 2022. The decision has been a difficult one, as the funds you generously help us to raise have never been more important for Barnardo’s.

“We are making sure that we do our best to raise as much as we can in other ways at such a difficult time for everyone.”

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The previous ball in 2019 raised more than £250,000 for the charity.

The committee said it launched a justgiving page last year so people can still donate towards the work Barnardo’s does in Yorkshire.