I have attended over the years workshops, concerts, dances, tune sessions, singing sessions and fringe events. I have admired Malcolm Storeys running of the festival and am on record here saying the same.

My question to Dick was to illicit what knowledge he has of Whitby Folk Festival in particular that allows him to remark on the various merits, or otherwise, of the way it is going and the way it has changed over the past 20 years.

That is not to say he will not have a valid opinion, but that it should hopefully be based on a degree of knowledge of the festival.