Sorry Lynne but the problem is that most of "the lovely people" will NOT be going to Sidmouth in 2005 because there is no festival to go to.

Sure there will still be some sessions in The Anchor and a couple of concerts at the Ham and the Manor Pavilion, maybe a dance or two in a church hall on the outskirts of town, but that is NOT a festival.

I don't want to be one of your "doom and gloom merchants" but it is hard not to be gloomy AND VERY ANGRY about the way the best festival in Britain has been allowed to wither and die.

I wish the diehards who are determined to keep a few events going every success in the world and I also wish success to you and your fellow Middle Bar Singers but I'm afraid you're up against it when the district council have stopped all their support for the festival and many of the local traders never gave the support they should have done long before now.

This lovely person will be giving Sidmouth a miss in 2005 for the first time in nearly twenty years. I will miss it terribly and I hope the full festival might yet be revived in a future year.