I have followed the debate on Sidmouth's future for months but have resisted posting until now. Can I please urge those in any way involved with planning a 'Festival' in 2005 (Stuart Hughes, Lizzie, Tony Day, John Golightly et al) to stop throwing mud at those who question (a) your motives, (b) your expertise, and (c) your chances of success for the following reason...

Sidmouth Festival is like Cropredy Festival insofar as people go because they feel part of one big happy family and enjoy meeting-up with other members of the Sidmouth / Cropredy family year-after-year-after-year.

Take away many of the family members or the family camaraderie and you risk losing what made the Festival so very special in the first place.

The only impression I get from the ongoing mudcat debate is that people who all claim to support the Sidmouth Festival cannot agree amongst themselves whether there should even be a Festival in 2005 let alone what form it should take.

The petty political point-scoring, mud-slinging and bickering on this website suggests a squabbling family and not a happy one. I and many others do not want to spend our hard-earned cash and much-treasured holiday-time in such an unsavoury atmosphere and that is why I will not be at Sidmouth in 2005.

Guys and gals, learn a lesson from the debate over Cropredy Festival's future. You won't find anywhere on the web the kind of slanging match taking place over Sidmouth. All you will find are happy people delighted that someone has managed to save Cropredy after the sad departure of the leading organiser.

Think.... then maybe you will learn why Cropredy will have 20,000+ happy people next August while Sidmouth will be but a sad shadow of its former self.