No offence given or taken by anyone or to anyone. The whole ethos of the weekend is that people can come and go as they wish and there will be an opportunity to sing over the weekend. A few years ago we seriously reconsidered the whole weekend, should we have workshops, should we have an afternoon concert etc and asked loads of people what they wanted. The answer was a resounding, 'leave it alone'. What people wanted was a very relaxed weekend away in a beautiful setting where they could sing if they wanted during the day but that there would be a gathering on the Saturday night, with smaller sessions on all over the weekend. They didn't want anything formalised. They wanted to be able to go and play at being a tourist in Tavistock or go walking on the moors, go and visit Lydford Gorge etc or just have space on the campsite to be able to sit and chat with friends, play boules etc. The idea of the sing on the Tor came from the half a dozen or so who walked their dogs or went for a walk up there any way and it has now become part of the weekend. What other singing weekend offers the opportunity to go and sing on the top of a Tor? When people don't want it any more it just won't happen. Consequently, because of the nature of the weekend we have never advertised it as a festival, more of a 'sort of Song and Ale', but it isn't that really either. It's a gathering of a like minded people doing what they want to over a weekend and having a sing if they want to. Like Sal said, it is very cheap, only £5 for the weekend plus your choice of accommodation which you book with the pub, and all the mooney raised goes to a nominated charity. This year we raised over £250 for the Precious Lives Appeal for a new Children's Hospice for West Devon and Cornwall. If you just want to come for a session then you put in a donation. So, we'll carry on next year, same weekend as always, 2nd weekend in May and if you want to come to something a bit different that is very laid back and very friendly, you know where we'll be.
Thanks for the flowers, Hawker, much appreciated; Ali, hope all goes well and we'll see you soon; Thanks to everyone who has sent pm's and emails.