This was my first full body immersion - spending a whole week at Whitby, and I found it a marvellous experience. It was a real festival for joining in among friends, everyone seemed to have something to contribute which made it such a huge pleasure to be part of.

The Crystal Spirit event to commemorate the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War was one personal highlight, and I also greatly enjoyed the concert celebrating Peter Bellamy. The lunchtime ballad sessions at the Conservative Club were excellent, and so were the Traditional Nights at the Football Club although I had to miss out on some of these due to problems with the Law of Bilocation. I'm still laughing at some of Jack Lynch's stories. Hissyfit were great to see in action; Linda's songs are so powerful. Ray Hearne's song for adults with learning disabilities 'Things To Say' is a song I am definitely going to use.

It felt a huge privilege to listen to Sheila Stewart talk about her life, and also to hear Thomas MacCarthy and Simon Doyle share their songs and tunes.

Congratulations to Jerry Simons for winning the songwriting competition with 'Living Momently'; when he sang it at the Rifle Club on Friday night it was thrilling to have Chris Miles's voice join in from behind me. It is a lovely song which I think stands well in the tradition of Harry Clifton's motto songs.

On a personal note thanks to Rob, the room steward in the Conservative Club, for reuniting me with my wallet!

Matthew