Here's my e-mail

Dear Jo

You may be aware that the Mudcat Folk Discussion Forum is currently discussing the Broadstairs Folk Week under the thread 'Broadstairs 2009' and a lot of the posting at the moment is a continuation of the fallout from the 'Broadstairs 2008' thread where quite a number of people were expressing misgivings.

I have to say that my own experience of the festival has been wholly positive and I am looking forward to going again this year. I understand that organising a festival this size is a mammoth undertaking and I sympathise with your need to sign up sponsors in very difficult economic circumstances and wish you luck

I have actively encouraged those who are complaining on the influential Mudcat website to take their grievances directly to you rather than continuing to write complaining letters to the discussion forum declaring that they will not be attending this year and putting a damper on the festival before it happens

I hope that this will help you to address their legitimate concerns and get many of these folk stalwarts back on board well before the event so that we are all able to look forward to a brilliant 2009

The main concerns as I understand them are as follows

1 - security at the campsite - although not personally affected I can see that the events of last year were totally unacceptable and that the friendly community on the campsite can only exist where there is no fear of intrusion and thuggery from any source. Could you please reassure us on this matter

2 - safety within the town at night - this is a public order problem which becomes a festival problem when it starts detering festival goers - is this one where you need to work closely with the police ?

3 - overcrowding at singaround sessions - sounds like a problem of success to me - would it be possible to run more such sessions or identify premises which would be willing to accept ad-hoc singarounds? - I reckon you would still get high numbers at the established and most popular venues - Wrotham Arms and Lord Nelson but this appears to be a big concern for many. I think we all still want the atmospheric venues so a school gym would probably not cut it

4 - the loos at the campsite clogged up and ran out of fluid well before they were maintained

5 - disabled people would like to be able to park at their camp pitch - considering the number of cars driving across the grass anyway this doesn't seem a big ask

6 - a number of people have complained that many of the bands in the pubs have been anything but folk bands. This is one where I am not sure I agree with the complainers - there are so many things going on in town that personally if I found a pub putting on music I did not like I would just move on to the next. Also alternative venues for locals not interested in folk should help distract them from worrying about the 'folkies' - however this is one of the grievances that keeps appearing

7 - a bid one is the lack of simple cheap transport from the campsite down to town and back - it appears to be a real sore - no point driving down because you won't be able to park when you get there. I know that others have made more elaborate suggestions but the simplest solution that I can think of is one vehicle constantly shuttling between the campsite and the bottom of the High Street throughout the day. Perhaps you could sell books of tickets in advance?

I am a real fan of the Broadstairs festival - it's location in a beautiful seaside town, the variety of pubs and other venues, the busking on the prom, the bandstand, the jetty, the fish and chips, the sheer number of events packed into the week - and it hurts me to read people saying they won't be going this year largely because of the issues I have outlined above. I have put faith in your ability and desire to correct many of these problems once they are communicated to you and have suggested as much to the Mudcat community. I would really appreciate your comments and plans for making 2009 safer and better so that we can persuade the doubters to give it another chance, to come along and to get the same enjoyment from it as I have

thanks for all your efforts