See below for the text of an email just sent to info@chippfolk.co.uk

Hi

I'm writing to you about the unsatisfactory situation with regard to the late night music sessions in the "Pavilion" on the camp site.

As you will know, late night music sessions have been a regular feature of the Festival for many years. Recently, these have come to be dominated by the 15-25 years age group - not only are these the future of Folk music, some of them have already played major gigs at this and other festivals. They are the future of Chippenham Folk Festival but if you and the security company treat them as badly as you did this year, they won't be.

They create this session because the other sessions at the festival earlier in the day but they are not particularly welcoming to younger people and since most are on licensed premises, not suitable for the youngest.

They are largely a responsible group of people and this year I particularly noted how assiduous they were at keeping the door closed to minimise noise leakage. Further, on the Saturday night, the musicians retreated into a side room such that as I approached the building, it was so quiet, I doubted that the session was in progress.

On the Saturday night, an employee of the security firm attempted to break up the session. I enquired of him who had ordered this. He told me it was someone called "Bob". On being pressed, he stated this was "Bob Penny". I asked for his (the security man's) ID and he refused to show it. (Last year, I caught someone claiming to be from the security company stealing my rucksack. He, too, wouldn't provide ID)

This security man stated that there was a problem not with the noise of the session but with the noise made by people leaving the session. His action in ejecting everyone in the building at one time resulted in far more noise than the usual trickle of people leaving in ones and twos throughout the night.

Further, I was camped less than 10 yards away from the edge of the car parking area and my observation was that the people using the catering made far more noise than the session.

Action Points:

* You should accept that a late night session is very likely to happen somewhere OR state up front that it won't be permitted. Simple management of customer expectations.

* Since the session is likely to happen, you should accept that the Pavilion as location has many practical advantages for all parties. Closing the Pavilion just moves the "problem" to somewhere more problematic.

* If the session *must* to end at a particular time (which I doubt), you must make this extremely clear by mentioning it in the programme, campsite information, etc. This will avoid the appearance of an arbitrary decision by a security man who likes throwing his weight around breaking up kids fun.

* If you really believe the session is a significant source of noise, designate the other end of the field to be a "quiet zone" suitable for those wanting to sleep during the usual hours.

Steve Harris - Cheltenham - ECeilidh List Owner
Also "Dance Addicts" list, see http://www.netservs.com/da/