THE mother of a young girl who needs expensive aftercare following a life-changing operation has spoken of her disappointment at the last minute cancellation of Worcester Carnival.

The HelpGeorgie appeal were due to benefit from the money raised during Sunday's carnival along with Headway Worcestershire.

But Georgie Gibbs's family only discovered the event was cancelled because of "operational circumstances" after organisers posted a statement on Facebook yesterday (Wednesday).

Money raised by the appeal has been used to pay for the intensive aftercare and equipment the little girl, who has spastic diplegic cerebral palsy, needs following a selective dorsal rhizotomy in February.

In the future, the family, from St John's, Worcester, also hope to extend the help to other children recovering from the operation.

Mrs Gibbs said: "Obviously as Worcester Carnival choose Helpgeorgie to be one of the represented charities, we are very disappointed to hear via the carnival website that this has now been cancelled.

"I'm sure Mr Hobbs and his team will be contacting all represented charities and those involved ASAP to give a reasonable explanation on the reasons why this decision has been made so late in the day."

The carnival was set to take place on Sunday but was cancelled with just four days' notice.

Last night, organisers issued a second statement saying that they have had a change of personnel and were aiming to return in 2017.

It said: "We have been reading each and every comment and can see how very disappointed people are.

"We can assure you that there is no one more disappointed than us.

"There have already been changes in personnel here and things are already looking up.

"Sadly too late for 2016 but 2017 will really be something to look forward to; especially when it comes to making it up to those who have lost out this year.

"We will release new information as soon as we have it but things are in a very fluid state here at the moment.

"Please bear with us and once again, please accept our sincerest apologies.

"If there was any other option to save 2016 we would take it."