For some years you could have joined the Supporters Club (same £25) and camped - again instead of buying any event tickets.

To some extent, both the Supporters Club (which followed from the EX10 club and available only locally) was never widely advertised - it's caused a few problems.

The terms of the renamed scheme - Camping Passport - (when you find it!) are now clearly stated - and I am assuming you can buy one 'on the day' if space is still available.

For a newcomer, not accustomed in any way to the complex ticket structure of FolkWeek, I feel a simple one page summary is useful - hence my webpage.

One page explains all.

Also, my Newcomers Guide has proved quite popular (already!).

all about the festival

One of the first rules of marketing is surely to make taking money off people a pleasurable and relaxed experience.

If using the official website (and assuming you want to get a full picture of all the options before deciding what to buy) you have to use between 30 and 40 clicks to get ALL the information on ALL ticket types. That is just annoying - and remember many people have trouble adding up a grocery bill.

If the design of the official website puts off just one family who might have spent £300, that is £300 too much.

And surely, a new festival website doesn't need a secret build up and a hyped 'launch' - it could have been loaded as a draft (everything working except the final 'buy' link) and comments from users could have been sought for two weeks. Then all subsequent users could have been presented with a 'tried and tested' version.

Makes sense? It does to me - it is quite common these days for companies to issue 'beta' products.

Politicians test their ideas before unleashing them on the wider public - its called using "Focus Groups".

One of the most applauded and easy to use financial websites is the on-line tax return! It was extensively developed and tested before being launched.

It's brilliant - it's so logical I could have written it............

The present design of the official festival site is fine for people who already know what they want - but that is not the point!