I've been going to Sidmouth for 20 years but after the 2008 event, I started wondering about spending my main holiday elsewhere. I may still do Sidmouth 09 but if the Festival carries on the way it has it will lose me soon.

What I need from Sidmouth is about 10 cracking English Ceilidhs. Looking at the list of bands for 2009, I'm not going to get half that number. Worse still, a lot of the people I danced alongside for years have already reacted to the decline and have gone already.

Of course, there is some young blood coming along to fill some of the gaps. They have been brought in by clever marketing but clever marketing of a mediocre product doesn't get repeat business.

Put on a really good (dancing) festival and you retain customers young and old. I dance with women aged from around 16 up to 80 and we have one thing in common - we love great dancing.