Eileen and I were in Sidmouth last week and got into conversation with a local shopkeeper who happens to be a folkie. He said the locals have got fed up with the way the festival has gone. He told us stories of last year dance teams not being allowed to dance on the seafront, and of 'bouncers' being on the doors of marquees used by the foreign teams to practice, to stop people looking in. The only assumption one can make is that the mentality behind this is 'if you want to look, you can pay'.
He stressed that the Sidmouth residents love the festival, but hate the way it's being run at the moment. They'd like to see it return to way it was 10 or more years ago.
If these stories are true, then the sooner the present organisers move on the better.