I have resisted joining in this debate, but I do think that the local that Dave Masterson quotes is a step too far......just 'cos someone says it is true, does not mean it is so.

I was only able to get there for part of the week last year but I saw plenty of teams dancing around both the sea front and other places, and I am sure that my dancing friends would have told me if the traditional Sunday Morris had not taken place. So the local folkie does need to quote chapter and verse of how dance teams were banned -for example - if the police/traffic wardens banned them then this was hardly the fault of the festival.......I cannot see how Mrs. Casey can possibly stop teams dancing where they are allowed to by the local authority. How precisely did the Festival organisers do this?

As for bouncers stopping watching rehearsals....I have danced all over the world see http://www.citymorris.f9.co.uk/International.htm ....and it is not unusual to stop people entering a venues during rehearsals.....in the same way that venues are closed during sound checks. It is a rehearsal/sound check after all.......

As for the phrase "The only assumption one can make is that the mentality behind this is 'if you want to look, you can pay', I reckon there is some pretty good free entertainment to be had for the cost of living in Sidmouth (camping/b and b/hired cottage) for a few days during the first week in August. Anchor Garden Ceilidhs are free for example.....buskers are free, sessions in the Bedford, Radway, Middle Bar Singers...need I really go on? People tell me it is possible to do these without even buying a beer...........

It is easy to criticise the festival for its size. The first complaint about it getting too big according to the historian of the festival was 1957, and there was at least one other in the early 70's published in the EFDSS magazine.

The suggestion to go back to ten years ago is clearly a reference to the days when the EFDSS ran the festival. Ask them to take over. Ask anyone in fact....

The answer will be not without guarantees against loss due to the weather..bit like Mrs. Casey really.

Best regards,

Dave Eyre
www.collectorsfolk.co.uk