The annual Abingdon Lions Gala Day on August Bank Holiday Monday has been cancelled due to administrative problems.

But MG car buffs are looking to stage a grand rally on the day to celebrate two anniversaries.

The Lions had planned a funfair at Rye Farm Meadow on the banks of the Thames.

However a shortage of members available to help, combined with logistical problems, forced the Lions to cancel it.

Lions president Richard Terry said: "We were left with no alternative.

"There were problems over a clash of dates with a horse show which was resolved, but then the fun fair people had difficulties with the date so we had no option but to cancel.

"Now we've time to organise a spectacular event for next year."

The Lions first held a Gala Day in 1990 and ran the annual event for seven years before a two-year gap.

It resumed two years ago and in 2001 the Lions raised £10,000 to support a schools' drug and alcohol awareness campaign.

The organisation has raised more than £65,000 for charity at their Gala Days.

However, the MG Car Club's Abingdon Works Centre is running a special Bank Holiday event at Rye Farm Meadow to mark two anniversaries, the 40th anniversary of the birth of the MGB and 50 years for the Austin Healey.

There will be an exhibition of classic cars and several car runs starting from the source of the Thames and from London are scheduled, as well as runs around Oxfordshire.

Meanwhile, visitors will be able to test their driving skills during what the secretary of the Abingdon Works Centre of the MG Car Club, Simon Pedrazzini, said promised to be "a most interesting and entertaining day for the lovers of MG cars past and present".