Thank you for your constructive points, and no doubt the committee will have views on many of the issues you have raised. For myself, I'm particularly interested in the idea of a Kent songs workshop.

However, I feel I must take up some points that seem to be misleading. I'm not speaking for the committee here, but for myself - no doubt they will have plenty to say either here or in other settings.

- You have made a large point about electric instruments. The session 'corner band' on this occasion was the well known and long estabished local band Florida, a group of people who as individuals have been playing regularly in the county for three decades. We use amplification to enable our two guitars to cope with the sound levels produced by Tim's melodeon, and Charlie and Richards' trumpet and saxophone - and no more. In fact, neither of us used a 'Twin Reverb' (135 watts) but instead used small practice amps rated at 10-20 watts. Listening to the initial cut of the recording, there's no suggestion they were too loud - if anything they're on the quiet side. If your point is that we should have banned non-traditional instruments, where would one stop? What about non-traditional acoustic guitars, or non-traditional bodhrans? Or English concertinas, which probably belong in the drawing room rather than the pub? Do you really want Charlie and Richard to put aside their horns and take up the tin whistle?

- The hall was cool before the stepping workshop began but not unfomfortably cold. In my observatuion, few people felt the need to put their coats on, though most wore a jacket of some kind. It was well heated by the time the concert began.

- If there are steppers in the room, I think it's essential they have a board, and it would be a nonsense to have to keep moving it. By the way, your earlier suggestion that there were several 'winsome' children step dancing is simply not true - there was but one all day, and if she hears you calling her winsome I think she might have something to say about it!

- I don't recall hearing a single modern song until after the chaired session was over - unless you count Den Giddens' self-penned masterpieces. On the question of how Kent-focussed the songs were, it doesn't seem right to insist on local songs in a session where people have come from far and wide - a rule of that kind would have excluded many of our visitors. Still, local songs were well represented by performances from Andy Turner, George Frampton, Paul Cowdell and myself. If you had gone to the concert, however, you would have heard many songs with strong local connections.

- Your remarks imply that the programme was not informative. With an event like this, the programme has to be written and produced pretty well at the last moment, and I think ours was useful, if not actually glossily saleable. See it here: Souvenir and appeal for photos post . If the blue-clicky machine fails me a second time, the programme is available on the home page at http://www.kentgathering.com .

- On Morris teams, this is certainly an issue for discussion. As it was, we had the St Nicholas at Wade Hoodeners, who clearly represent an important Kent tradition by any definition.

No doubt there's much more to say but I'd better go and do some work!

Gavin Atkin, representing himself and NOT the committee!