Blowzabella is absolutely right to say "A major festival costs a lot of money" though it is debatable as to whether Sidmouth is still "A major festival". The BBC for one no longer rates Sidmouth alongside the likes of Cambridge when it comes to live coverage.

Bowzabella is also right to slam the disgraceful decision by the District Council to cut their funding for the festival from £60,000p.a. to zero.

The problem facing Sidmouth organisers is how to balance the books given:

(a) the huge costs of staging the Folk Week

(b) the reduced number of people attending since the demise of the "International" Festival and the scrapping of Arena events

(c) the desire of many of those who are still attending (myself included) to spend most of our time in The Anchor or the informal sessions in The Bedford and elsewhere, therefore not going to many concerts and not spending money on buying tickets which means...

(d) the free 'fringe' sessions and dance displays attract good audiences but the 'centre' of the Folk week struggles to raise the cash to keep itself going.

It's not easy. I admire those who are working so hard to deliver another successful Folk week but I fear they are up against it.

Many of us are more interested in the free events than the ticketted concerts. For us Sidmouth is a social gathering, a chance to meet old friends, have a natter, a song, a tune. We're not really bothered about whether there's an Arena or not, not that interested in many of the concerts in the Ham, not willing to pay large sums for a season ticket that doesn't cover all the events anyway.

I'll still head to Sidmouth come what may but friends who gave it a chance last year have said they won't be going in 2006.

Their loss but I wonder how many others are thinking the same?

JR