I am a singer (unaccompanied and accompanied with a concertina) and a musician, including for morris but I didn't do any of that at the festival. Generally I did enjoy Chippenham FF and thanks to The Admiral & Pearl, to Kitty and to those who organised the English Music sessions for doing their part with that!
It was just unfortunate that again(!) this year all these three events clashed every day - 12 noon to 2 pm was a very busy time!
I counted over 60 musicians at one stage crowding into the Rose & Crown Barn for one of the music sessions and, as has already been mentioned, the community of English musicians did off their own backs collonise The New Inn as a home for all other times of the day. Well done them and I believe the sessions must have added something positive to the festival!
But us unaccompanied and accompanied singers were not so cute! We didn't manage to find ourselves appropriate venue(s) for singing at times other than 12 noon to 2 pm.
As an illustration, the evening folk club sessions at The Cause had an hour of guests per night out of three with the rest of the time for floor spots. So each evening I arrived early, put my name down for a two-song spot early enough to be included. But in practice, while I attended a total of about 10 hours, I got a total of just two songs over the three evenings. I tend not to make a big issue about such things - c'est la vie! - but my partner was upset because the chairs made her back hurt and, if she had known in advance, she wouldn't have come so much to support me...
Perhaps there is also room for a venue for ordinary (mixed accompanied and unaccompanied) singaround with no guests and one song per person round the room? Seems a bit radical, I know!
All this discussion has suggested to me that there is a significant issue here, which should be considered by the organisers for next year!
1 Do any of us even know that the organisers are aware of it?
2 Have they read this thread?
3 If not, could anyone close to them let them know there is an issue?
4 If they have read it, what are their views?
Perhaps they are unaware that so many people who attend their festival have a first love of song or music, rather than dance?
"... when I heard of some ringing, some dancing and singing ...!"
Alan