It seems to me that, while it is perfectly possible to organise things from a distance, and it's been done remarlkably well in this case, a local continuing presence is a very important element indeed in helping people and organisations locally see the event as in some sense their event and not something they've been lumbered with by a bunch of outsiders.

It's always struck me as a bit dangerous that, in between festivals, it appears that folk music pretty well dies out in Sidmouth - in contrast to Whitby or Fylde, and most other festivals I have come across. I know there's the Middle Bar Reunion, but so far as I am aware there is no kind of local folk club.