Yes, yes, maximum respect for the committee etc, etc.

But why advertise an all-day come-all-ye - and then not put a person in there to run it and a couple of singers/players to seed the event?

Why leave Mark Lawson solo to sing at the Bear and not book a couple of other singers/players to go in with him?

Only a couple of years ago there was an open mic run by the poetry society at a pub that was a long walk out of town - and it was rammed.

How about turning the main stage down a bit so that dancers outside the HSBC can actually hear their own side's music?

How about rotating the dance sides progressively, rather than apparently at random? How about putting which side is at which stand when in the programme? Why have the stands coinciding rather than being staggered?

How about controlling the street trader pitches so that pedestrians can pass between the pitch and the wall, to permit peripatation without obstruction?

How about keeping trade pitches off the exact street corners (you know, like not parking cars on jusnctions) - again so that people can pass?

What genius designed the layout by the post office so that there was nowhere for the sides to dance, between the roundabout, the ice-cream van, and the big tut stall outside the shoeshop? All it needed was the van and the tut stall moved down nearer to the main road, so bringing extra people into grabbing range of the art display and making a bit of a barrier to the traffic noise. Maybe the roundabout could have gone on the pavement by the post office hard to the passing road, too, leaving a nice big area for dancing, playing, and buying beer from the CAMRA stand and soaking up sunshine - in effect a tertiary square.

What about marking the location of the beer stalls on the festival map? Have any of the pubs got bat and trap greens? How about a village-by-village competition? What really celebrates the hop? Why not a yard of ale competition?

What about a central-ish "left luggage" maybe under the cloisters so that people who play more than one instrument don't need a golf trolley to drag them all around all day.

How about a break between stands for sides (eg 2 stands, hour or so off, repeat, repeat 2 stands) so that the players and singers from the sides can get into the daytime sessions and come-all-ye-s?

How about signposted "bypass" walking routes for people to dodge the thrilling mong when trying to get from stand to stand or session to session?

How about "electric jams" in some pubs for the plank players? A "club stage" for performers? A snigger snogwriter competition?

Is there anywhere to put a little 5-a-side soccer competition?

Kids' rides round the outside of the town on the White Steamer?


What about a "festivalbeer" competition, with votes awarded by the consumers for the best beer, and maybe a microbrewer (take it in tturns, barred from entering the year in the role) as the Simon Cowell?

I'm sure I could go on. It's a great concept, a whole town hop festival, but there is so much more that could be done.