Ek Greko, it's not just Sidmouth I'm ranting about! I'll tell you the problem and why I get just SO..........!

When I look around my town in Festival time I don't just see the dancers and the singers and the 'stars'. I see people of ALL ages, all backgrounds,all nations, communicating in a way they'd never normally do, laughing, crying,
dancing, relaxing, drinking, all together, all in a place that is just so exquisitely beautiful that at times it takes your breath away!

There is nowhere else like Sidmouth! Not in the first week of August at least! It is just the Best Place On The Planet to be! If God himself had designed a backdrop for the glorious Festival that Steve Heap created, he could have done no better! It literally cries out to be danced in! The Byes..The Beach...Jacobs Ladder...Connaught Gardens....The Arena and Knowle.....The Storyteller's Tree.....The River.....The Living Map up on Salcombe Hill, where you can look down on the entire town below you and hear the music and the sound of the crowds drifting up towards you....The Ham....Blackmore Gardens....It just goes on....Beautiful unspoilt Regency buildings everywhere!

It's not in the middle of a field with vast car parks and chemical toilets staring at you. You don't have to trek miles through oceans of people, there is always somewhere to buy your bread and milk and loads of pubs! You just feel 'home'

And now for the TRULY important bit! My kids couldn't take school anymore, with all the violent bullying going on and the terrible stress that kids are under, they came out and now learn at home. I see first-hand what is happening, not just in our schools but to our children in general! A lot of them are literally falling apart and when I see Folk Festivals and I hear Folk Music I see a way back! Back to kindness and community, caring and sharing, back to old mixing with young and the young enjoying being with the old! It's about being able to enjoy yourself, feel free and let go and I'll fight as hard as I can to keep it! Not one Festival in this country should be allowed to die! Not one!

I've spoken to kids who've been 'burnt' by their classmates, not in Sidmouth, but in Exmouth, a young lad had Lynx Aftershave poured on him and then was set fire to! And what made my blood run REALLY cold is that it's EXACTLY the same thing that happened to a boy my daughter knew on Dartmoor, on the school bus, the very same thing took place! I could go on and on with stories but this is not the place!!

We are poisoning our kids' minds with foul videos and films that make your hair stand on end! They're drinking themselves senseless, younger and younger and NO-ONE is asking WHY!! Their 'music' is leading them down some Damned Dodgy Roads but Folk Music is DIFFERENT and it is SO Important to get it out there and get the kids into it! And THAT'S why I'll fight for Sidmouth, not just for the town, or for you Folkies but FOR THE CHILDREN, young and older!

I don't MEAN to upset anyone, but this was supposed to be a thread for people to offer helpful opinions, not just whinge on again about Sidmouth RIP! I think it IS important to keep the Festival going next year, not ever to lose that continuity. The danger is it may NEVER get picked up again!

Sorry to ramble on again but I seem to be getting more passionate about Sidmouth by the day!!! Don't know where it's coming from, I was going to move away a few months ago, but 'something' happened!!

So how about a Sponsored Walk by all the Folkies in the Country, all meeting up in one place to demonstrate about our music and freedoms being taken away from us? Is it time for a Folk Rebellion yet which can raise money along the way?!!! I'll walk!

Lizzie

PS Eric...could you give me 'how to explain yourself in just a few easywords' lessons? I'm in severe need!!!! :0) :0) Sorry everyone!