Manitas. I think the lights went out with the departure of Steve Heap and Mrs. Casey Music who organised a brilliant 'farewell' festival in 2004.

The people planning Sidmouth 2005 really only want a few pub sessions in The Anchor and a few dance sessions in chilly church halls well away from the town centre. That's their choice. They never liked the 'big-name' concerts in the Arena and the Ham Marquee or the noisy concerts in the Bowd. They frowned on 'professional' folk singers and musicians and hated the way Sidmouth had grown to be THE festival of the year.

So let's leave them to host their own little gathering of Middle Bar Singers in 2005. The rest of us need to start looking to 2006 and finding the funding and the professional organisers capable of re-launching the REAL Sidmouth festival.