Bolton's Food and Drink Festival organisers working with Hairy Bikers team after devastating diagnosis

The popular duo are the headline act for this year's festival along with favourite James Martin.

Since revealing his illness, Dave said he will not be able to attend all the festivals as planned.

The 64-year-old has not disclosed what the type of cancer is, and says that the year will now be a "write-off".

Dave revealed he was fighting the disease on the Hairy Bikers Agony Uncles podcast, opening up to his fellow Hairy Biker and cooking partner Si King.

He said: “I haven’t been too well recently and basically, I’ve got to have some chemo.

“You know all this anyway, so this year is going to be a bit quiet for me.

“I’m not going to be filming, some of the festivals I’m not going to be able to go to, some may be okay but this year’s a bit of a write-off for us.

A Bolton Council spokesman said: "“Everyone at the Bolton Food and Drink Festival is sad to learn of Dave’s illness and we all wish him a speedy recovery over the coming months.

“We are working with the Hairy Bikers team to ensure their many fans can still enjoy a great show this August Bank Holiday.”

The second day of the annual Bolton Food and Drink Festival saw huge crowds in the town centre enjoying the sunshine and an appearance by star attraction The Hairy Bikers. Picture by Paul Heyes, Saturday August 24, 2019....................

Dave said:“I have had to speak up about this because I don’t want to hide under a rock, but I would love it if people respected my privacy and just let me get on with it and give Si and our team all the support they need, that would be great. But look, the prognosis is okay, I’m going to be fine.”

He continued: “I’ve just got to tuck in, look after myself, eat sensibly and get over this mess, flog books, and be a happy person so within that, that’s where I am.

“I may be a baldy biker for a while so it’s just a warning, I don’t want to make a fuss about it, I look alright bald actually.”

Dave and Si have known each other since the 1990s and made their first television appearance as the Hairy Bikers in the 2004 BBC programme The Hairy Bikers' Cookbook.

Since then they have presented many different travelogue programmes, combining that with cooking.

The have visited Bolton a number of times, including the festival and to switch on the Christmas lights

“Everyone at the Bolton Food and Drink Festival is sad to learn of Dave’s illness and we all wish him a speedy recovery over the coming months.

“We are working with the Hairy Bikers team to ensure their many fans can still enjoy a great show this August Bank Holiday.”