Very well done, Cath and everyone else involved in the organisation.
What a lovely venue for a festival!
I enjoyed meeting some old friends and new, eg Ray Paggett, Raggytash and the Green Oak Morris Men. I attended two sessions run by Marjorie Paterson & Dave Cowan - what a lovely couple! Also, Sheila Mosley & Pete Burnham performed well, as ever. In addition, I had not seen Duncan McFarlane before and I thought that some of his stuff was very good.
The venue at The Old Bridge was great in the function room and fun in the bar (if a little noisy but what can you expect!) But I was pleased with the audience participation in the singing I did - which was pretty loud too!
There were only three problems for me. As a stranger, as I arrived at 4pm on the Friday I found it very hard to find any directions for where to go!
Also, I was a bit disappointed that I didn't manage to find any English music session during the Friday & Saturday. Sandy (who plays a mandolin) & I tried to start one in The Nook on the Friday only to be completely overrun by the twiddly people! I did find the makings of one in the bar at The Old Bridge early evening on the Saturday when several other wandering musicians happened to find themselves together but it proceeded to turn itself into a singaround (which incidentally I did enjoy).
My other problem was that I couldn't make use of the camping tickets I had bought (numbers 7 & 8 no less). Having driven round the town, I parked in the Coop Car Park to try to find out where to go. But just ad I did so, my campervan managed to break a fuel line, so I was stuck there for the duration! It also meant that I could not stay to help out at the Holmfith by t'Sea session on the Sunday, as I had to catch a low loader home! Shame!
More strength to your arm for next year!
"A bold fusilier came marching into ...!"
Alan