Perhaps the organisers (I'm really thinking about Malcolm Storey before he stood down) couldn't care two hoots about the BBC? Whitby is a fantastic festival unspoiled by "over-hyped uber-kid saviour of folk rubbish" that you get elsewhere. Or the "token american" that you get at the BBC Folk awards each year.

Cambridge is not a folk festival - well not my folk anyway - and is a marketing peg for the BBC to say that it promotes "folk and acoustic music" so it can largely ignore it the rest of the year. One exception being Mick Peat's show but I wonder how much the BBC actually spend on that show.

However, none of this is to the detriment of Whitby, (IMHO) a fantastic mix of traditional music, dance, song and storytelling from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland - and fellow travellers.

I hope the BBC continue to leave Whitby alone personaly.