Nothing much in the Sidmouth Herald this week about the folk festival. We were all expecting a big announcement. There is a letter from Birmingham praising the SeeRed website for its coverage of the background issues - which may have got a little up the nose of some of those organising the "Hughes Fest", as the 2005 fringe is now called amongst some local folkies. You can view this by clicking on the link below and then on 'letters' on the left hand side. I tried to make a direct link but it didn't work.

Some locals are not buying the dance tickets because the decision was taken to hold them in a number of village halls scattered around and far from the town centre - where the dancing and music should (in our opinion) be concentrated. Amazingly, the dance coordinator apparently was not a member of the inner circle planning the 2005 fringe but was invited belatedly to the 23 October coven - which he couldn't make anyway. Some of us are seething about the lack of proper local consultation - but are we surprised?? This is Sidmouth after all.

On the bright side (depending on your point of view) the headlines in the Herald were of a £31,000 haul of cannabis. Also the recent storms made the seafront look like mid-winter. I am asking the Herald if I can have one of their photos for SeeRed. Read these stories too on the link below.

From 1 November there is a new website run by the Sidmouth Herald group and called www.devon24.co.uk. You could try this if you're interested in local news, also try www.sidmouthherald.co.uk for local news stories but few pictures. http://www.sidmouthherald.co.uk