THE coronavirus crisis continues to cause every day issues for families and individuals all over the area.

It is something that is causing heartache for some, confusion for some, and a lot of frustration for others, and the bottom line is that it is not set to go away soon.

Local community activists are having their own frustrations over the situation, the latest being the gala committees of Kelty and Crossgates.

Both of these groups had no alternative but to put their galas off and months of fundraising and organisation came to nothing, although the money collected so far gives them a flying start to next year's events.

With Benarty and Cowdenbeath Galas being cancelled before these events and Benarty Pipe Band Competition shelved too it could be the first time in many decades that no community days have taken place in the Cowdenbeath-Lochgelly area.

The only events left are Lochgelly Gala and Rockore in late August, along with the Bowhill Highland Games and these will depend on how the coronavirus situation develops over the next couple of months.

It has been a situation that no one could have predicted, even at the start of the year, and hopefully the resolve of the organising committees will not be diminished by the problems experienced this year.

For once it has not been the weather that has put a damper on things, but the gala and community days in Cowdenbeath, Lochgelly, Crossgates, Kelty, Benarty, Lumphinnans and Cardenden are massive dates on the local calendars and hopefully the committees will fire ahead with their arrangements for 2021.

Only time will tell how quickly the cornavirus pandemic will start to ease and the medical experts all agree that the key is successfully finding a vaccine. With top scientists all over the world working on it you would hope that this will be achieved in the coming months and help communities return to some sort of normality.