The Carlisle Fringe has announced that it will not be taking place this year - so eight locals are taking on the monumental task of organising their own.

At the end of March, Elektronika Arts announced to performers that the Carlisle Fringe will be taking a year off after a successful three years. The much loved festival was more in demand than they could have ever expected, so this year will be spent developing an umbrella plan for the coming years.

In its place, eight people involved in the arts have come together to form the Carlisle Collective Fringe.

The decision to set up the Carlisle Collective Fringe was made by Katharine Simmons and John Chambers following the announcement by Elektronika Arts - they were understandably upset but after a mug of hot chocolate the Fringe wheels were in motion.

Graham Main, Executive Producer for Elektronika Arts, said: "These guys are the legacy of the Fringe, the city has a story to tell so it should be told."

It was three weeks ago that the group found out the news about the Fringe, since then Simmons and Chambers have assembled a team to organise their own festival and they just haven't stopped.

"Over the last five years, I have grown to realise how much people want something like this and how if you build it, they will come," commented Jack Ibbotson, 24 from Carlisle.

They hope that the festival will be a celebration of Carlisle's culture for people of the city put together by city natives - so far they have been inundated with applications from local performers, and businesses, to take part.

Mitch Bridgewater, 29 years-old from Denton Holme, is passionate about showing off the cultural and historical sides of Carlisle that many people often ignore. He remarked: "You've had the Romans, you've had the Jacobites, you've had the Vikings. Culture is here."

It's a belief shared amongst the group as Simmons, 24 from Carlisle, noted: "We should give Carlisle credit for being more cultured than people assume."

That means focusing on more than just the thing that brought the group together - theatre.

They aren't particularly sentimental about only featuring theatre, in fact they're hoping to embrace comedy, music, food, crafts, and even nudity.

There is only one thing that Mitch can confirm will not be allowed into the festival: "We won't be doing a dance piece about Brexit."

It is no easy feat putting together a festival when most of the group has no particular experience in event-planning but the challenge pushes them rather than slows them down. They haven't encountered too many problems so far but they're optimistic that if one arises they can deal with it.

Meg Robinson, 24 from Carlisle, said: "It helps a bit being part of a big group so you don't feel like its all on your head, if there's a problem and I don't know how to deal with it, somebody else will."

Their passion for their city and for their plans is contagious, and it's hard to not feel optimistic when they talk about everything they hope to achieve.

"We are proud of Carlisle and we want to make everyone else just as proud of Carlisle as we are," Simmons remarked.

The Carlisle Collective Fringe will take place at the end of August but they are wary of making any bold declarations until everything is set in stone, which they are hoping will be in May.

"We live in times that are increasingly polarised and if we can do anything that brings people with different views together, then that's surely a good thing," said Bridgewater.