A "Harry Potter weekend" being run by East Dunbartonshire churches and community groups has been cancelled for fears over safety amid rising crowd numbers.

The event, a theme for the annual Bearsden Festival at the end of every June, attracted thousands of likes on a Facebook page.

People from England, Ireland and the Netherlands were reportedly interesting in attending, according to organisers.

On Tuesday evening the Facebook page released a statement saying it was "designed as a local event in Bearsden rather than something like T in the Park".

However less than 24 hours later the event had been cancelled.

A new statement on the Facebook page read: "We have been blown away by the enthusiasm for our festival and we want to make it work but we now need much more time to do so and so we have taken the decision to cancel June 23-25th 2017.

"Because it has grown so big we have to sort out safety, parking, capacity and licensing implications and we will not have enough time to do that for this year but want to work on that for some time in the future.

"We are a very small group of five local folk so please understand this has taken on a life of its own which is bigger than we can manage.

"We hope you understand and we know many will be disappointed but after conversations with the police and our local council who have both been incredibly helpful and supportive, we believe this is the right course of action for us but watch this space for the future."

The festival was supposed to include themed food and drink outlets as well as wand workshops and a Quidditch tournament.

It would have celebrated the 20th anniversary of the first Harry Potter book's publication.

A Police Scotland spokeswoman also confirmed to STV News the cancellation.

Thomas Glen, depute chief executive at East Dunbartonshire Council, previously said: "The Bearsden Festival is an annual event run by local churches and traders.

"The organisers have been in touch with the council regarding the heightened interest in this year's festival, which they are proposing has a Harry Potter theme, and we have given advice on what is always planned as a local community event."