Thanks for all your support and kind words. I started the club with 2 others because there was no where in the town (100,000) to go for a decent (live music) night out. The others have dropped away and now I'm doing everything: a couple of other people have come on board in a different capacity and together they and I are also trying to organise this Fringe festival (for same reasons as we started the club). The Fringe we have arranged has a large visual arts input (organised by the 2 people in the entire town with any kind of motivation for that sort of thing). We have all kinds of music events we could stage - but there are no venues with PELs. Last year we were threatened with GBP60,000 fines or some such amount for having an acoustic event in someone's garden. We have surveyed all the Free House pubs that might have space for an duo (the town centre is now dominated by Super-Pubs)and have managed to persuade one other Landlord to let us stage a musical act. (For free I might add!). We have been out in the streets trying to give away stuff calling on people to get involved. We've had public meetings about the Fringe (and only the Artists came). I've sent P/releases to all the local newspapers and radio stations - with no acknowledgement. I've targetted the local journalist who produces this "Colonel Blimp" style town supplement with the entire programme and he will consider "snippets" to put in his supplement. I've managed to get 3 barrels of beer for the one event two day/all-day music festival I'm arranging at the pub where we hold the club - the same Landlord who offered us a marquee for our club night later that month (well, it was going to be up anyway for a Beer Festival that weekend) and then when I went back to say I could get a big name/draw guitarist for a concert on our club night (a Friday) said his beer sales were more important (this after I'm giving him two whole days of musicians playing for free, in exchange for 3 barrels - which the breweries are donating anyway. The same man who, after me running the club for over year, still hasn't even stood me, let alone a crowd pulling act playing for free, a drink). The local Council charge several hundred pounds (unless a registered charity) for using the few open spaces left (they've sold the rest off for luxury housing developments) and insist on restrictions on posters (no fly posting, fair enough).

I'd love to delegate but talking to the other 2 today - after 6 months solid of flogging this idea (in one form or another) nobody else has come forward wanting to get involved. I will though (an idea sparked off by reading above) dish out posters and flyers to all the musicians playing: I've got a huge budget of 25 quid out of another brewery for printing.

Um, it's happening on the South Coast, in Sussex in July ........ and I can't necessarily advertise it too much because the Landlord insists a PPL is adequate (no it ain't if I want to advertise bands) and last year one complaint brought the Environmental Health Officers down on us like a ton of bricks.

Repressive, non?