The person who first proposed the concert was actually Derek Schofield. He said to me, "We are always celebrating people after they've gone. Why don't we ever get round to doing it while they are still here to enjoy it?" He pointed out that Nic and Julia had visited the festival last year (I think) as they now live in the South West, and suggested some sort of tribute concert.

I then approached the artists. It wasn't just about who was already booked for the festival - some people were booked for the festival specifically because I knew they'd work well in the concert, and because they were very keen to be involved in it. Booking them to do other things as well simply made the concert achievable on a financial level. I also knew, after my initial discussions with Julia, that Nic's greatest admiration currently is for the younger crop of singers and musicians, rather than those of his own generation, and that he especially liked Jim Moray, for example. So it made sense to invite some of those artists. But I also wanted to have Pete Coe involved, and he eventually suggested the Bandoggs reunion.

Several months before the gig, Paul Sartin and I realised that all the members of Faustus would be at the festival at that time, and so even though Faustus was not booked anywhere else in the festival, they could probably get together to perform Ballina Whalers, which was already in their repertoire - they did Master Kilby as well.

I also realised a few months before the gig that I didn't have time to manage the concert and all the artists, having the rest of the festival to look after. So I handed the artist list and the songs selected so far to James Fagan, who took on the management of the gig for me. Being a massive Nic Jones fan, he was delighted to take this on.

One more thing, re Nic's appearance and how it was publicised. It was originally suggested by Julia that Nic might play a bit with their son - but then their son couldn't get the time off work and it looked like Nic might just be a guest, rather than getting on stage himself. Julia had told me they were very happy to have it publicised that he would be there, but I was very conscious of not wanting to be exploitative.

It was only when I spoke to Pete Coe earlier this year and explained that Nic's son couldn't make it that we discussed the Bandoggs thing. But I didn't want Nic to feel pressured into performing if it didn't work out, so it wasn't publicised in case it didn't happen.