"Given the sort of things and late night noise that is going on in the midle of the town I am sure that as long as there were no complaints - the local authority and the police would be only too glad to help"

Okay, it's time I came out of the closet! The large, impressive building over the road from the campsite is the local Court - that's where I work every day as the Court Duty Officer for Probation. Add to that the fact that I've led a ceilidh band for over 27 years, have previously sat on the Executive Committee of Chippenham FF and the National Activities Committee of EFDSS (however, I am no longer on any of those or any festival committee) and my husband used to be the volunteer organiser of the campsite and I am a 'local'. I think maybe I can have an 'informed' opinion.

So ...

Yes, there would be complaints from the locals - there have been many in the past.

No, neither the local authority nor the Police would be "only too glad to help" - they've proved it in the past.

Yes, the local drunks and druggies would love to see a late night session advertised in the programme - and they'd all turn up in droves and really disrupt it and cause even bigger problems! The Festival does not need the kind of attention from local youths that has caused the frequent Saturday night incidences of mass Affray, public order act offences, and violence.

Yes, yes, yes the campsite does need a proper, professional security firm ensuring the safety of both people and property. Tents are NOT secure, the local thieves and addicts are very well aware of this and take advantage of it at any and every opportunity. Professional security guards have the necessary qualification now needed for this kind of stewarding. Volunteer stewards should not have to contend with the kind of response they would encounter if challenging some of the local criminal/drug fraternity.

The noisy event that was organised in the centre of Chippenham on the Saturday night actually did the Festival a service - in that it kept noisy, drunken non-folkies away from Festival events. It is unfortunate if the Festival receives some 'bad press' because of it - but the Police know that it was not a Festival event, I made sure of that!

Bob and Gill and the rest of the Festival Committee do an excellent job - as stated by Julian. They do it as volunteers. Plenty of people are happy with the way the festival is both organised and run - or they would not buy tickets. Bob, in particular, spends a lot of his time (when he could be working on his own business) attending meetings with both council and Police and other local 'bodies'. Bob and Gill do the best they can to try to keep everybody happy under the constraints that are laid down for them.
I KNOW THAT BOB INTENDS TO RESPOND BY E-MAIL TO THE ORIGINATOR OF THIS THREAD - perhaps he should have been given the courtesy of making his reply before this thread was made public!

Personally, I've never found the need to play in a session into the early hours of the morning - I much prefer to play when fully awake and not under the influence of alcohol. Maybe some people need the late night/alcohol thing in order to convince themselves that they're making 'beautiful music'! If that's the case, then I suggest they organise it in their own back yard and not complain when others APPEAR not to be doing so.

I cannot comment on the specific incident with one particular security guard as I was not present - it does, though, seem as though the person involved might have had an unfortunate lack of people skills - but what was he having to contend with/being confronted with/how many people was he trying to quieten with how much back up?