Sparkling Sidmouth!! :0)

Subject: RE: Sparkling Sidmouth!! :0)
From: Lizzie Cornish
Date: 18 Aug 06 - 04:54 PM

Oh to hell with it! I deliberately stayed away from this thread as I wanted it to continue in the pleasant vein it was....knowing that if I appeared, so would my Terrible Twin!

Sadly, someone let her out first....

Diane...Why the heck do you always have to be so unpleasant. The post above which obviously upset you was lovely! There is nothing wrong with having a happy family and enjoying life because of that.

Sidmouth IS for families, and it's for those without families too..it's for everyone, as is every folk festival. But don't jump down people's throats because they dare to say they were happy and there was a lovely atmosphere at Sidmouth.

I don't care if people have children or if they don't. All that matters is that people are kind to each other and tolerant of others views.

Go and read a 'How To Get On With People' book....FAST!!

And now....back to Sidmouth.

It was lovely to meet John Barden at long last "Hi John!!"....and see George, Tom Bliss and Duncan...Annie Dunn too "Hi Annie!"......and Dave, (Breton Cap) "Hi Dave!!"....and of course Jan, Chris and Grace...big hugs all round guys!

Sorry I didn't get to meet many more...I was busy rushing round, children were doing bodhran classes and loads of other things as well...but Oh! How I miss you all!! The rain washed the last bit of brightly coloured chalk away today, from the seafront pavement, where people had scribbled all over the place during folk week...and that's it...the last bit of Brigadoon has disappeared once more.....

Still...the good news is...There's only 51 weeks to go until it returns! (Great Big Beaming Smiley!);0)

Lots of love


Lizzie :0) xx

Subject: RE: Sparkling Sidmouth!! :0)
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 18 Aug 06 - 05:01 PM

Firstly, I have been in this thread, on and off, since 28 June. Not 'lurking' till a pudding person (who is either one of lizziecornish's pseudonyms or else a clone - jesus, that's scary) barged in telling everyone to join a nuclear family, uphold the status quo and only do 'nice', uncontroversial, MOR trash. This, apart from being a load of bollocks, is insulting.

I don't know the pudding. I don't know the hat or the lynne. In fact, probably the only Anchor person who really knows me is Kitty Vernon who I think quite likes me. The rest of you haven't a clue, one way ot the other. I haven't been in Sidmouth for two years and am not particularly encouraged ever to return as long as it differs not a lot from any other bog standard festival. If I do, I shan't be anywhere near the Anchor so you'll never learn who I am and as far as I'm concerned, you can all sod off or not as you wish. I don't care.

Subject: RE: Sparkling Sidmouth!! :0)
From: Chris Cole
Date: 18 Aug 06 - 05:02 PM

Hurray

Subject: RE: Sparkling Sidmouth!! :0)
From: Dave Earl
Date: 18 Aug 06 - 05:08 PM

Now you are showing your own ignorance.

I have met both Lizzie and Pudlover (and it wasn't in the Anchor)

If you don't come to Sidmouth these days why do you complain about what others get out of it?

Now leave us fun luvin' souls alone and take your angst somewhere that appriciates it.

Dave

Subject: RE: Sparkling Sidmouth!! :0)
From: Lizzie Cornish
Date: 18 Aug 06 - 05:21 PM

Ooh! I'd love to be cloned! That way I could see all the artists and people I missed.

Imagine...being able to go to Sidmouth and see EVERYTHING!!

Where's Stevie Scarlett gone? Let's get him on to it...he's a scientist...OK...a Government one...but I'm sure he'll know how to clone me...and then....THEN....I can listen to Barry Lister in The Bedford, Dave and his friends in The Anchor, Coope Boyes & Simpson in The Ham, track down where the kids are, watch Jim Causley, squeeze in George, Duncan, Tom and Seth, pop over to Canada and watch Show of Hands, flit back and see Lunasa...all at the same time!

AND...I could write all about it on 10 different messageboards at once! Oh what HEAVEN!

I think you may be on to something BIG here Sweetums! I really do!!


Lizzie :0)

PS: (The dreaded but scary Countess Richard above, also goes by the name of Diane Easby and Sweetums, for anyone who doesn't already know!) ;0)

Subject: RE: Sparkling Sidmouth!! :0)
From: Lizzie Cornish
Date: 18 Aug 06 - 05:23 PM

Just think...if I were cloned...

A Coope Boyes & Simpson concert....where I could buy ALL the tickets and occupy ALL the seats!

Oh dear me...I'm chuckling here...

:0)

Subject: RE: Sparkling Sidmouth!! :0)
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 18 Aug 06 - 05:24 PM

I have met both Lizzie and Pudlover

Good grief, how dreadful for you! You should take your own advice and take your own angst elsewhere. Like Womad? And do you have a basic comprehension problem? What I deplore is not what 'others get out of it' but how some can have the goddam cheek to try and impose such patronising attitudes on those who don't, in their narrow view, conform to their shit lifestyle. I haven't been to Sidmouth in the past couple of years because it's not what it was and I see no point for me. From what I gather from you MBS lot, the change of management and format cannot possibly make the slightest difference and you'll continue to 'get out of it' whatever it is you do. It's different for me. OK? So SOD OFF.

Subject: RE: Sparkling Sidmouth!! :0)
From: Chris Cole
Date: 18 Aug 06 - 05:28 PM

To call my lifestyle shit is ignorant and intolerant. Please do not be so personal Diane and take some time to condsider how patronising your comments are.

Subject: RE: Sparkling Sidmouth!! :0)
From: Zany Mouse
Date: 18 Aug 06 - 05:29 PM

Erm - I know you all probably know the answer to this but I'm confused. Are Lizzie Cornish and Lizzie in Sidmouth one and the same?

Rhiannon

Subject: RE: Sparkling Sidmouth!! :0)
From: Dave Earl
Date: 18 Aug 06 - 05:34 PM

how dreadful for you!

Not so!

They are peeps!!

Thank you and goodnight

Dave

Subject: RE: Sparkling Sidmouth!! :0)
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 18 Aug 06 - 05:34 PM

Oh, and Pastychops, yes there are apparently one or two people on this thread who may not know my real name but I don't suppose they want to. Why not occupy yourself for a really long time by listing all your pseudonyms and aliases? And after that, save me a bit of time by recounting the story behind Child #68 and 'countess richard' every time someone inexplicably claims not to understand it because they can't be arsed to look it up.

Subject: RE: Sparkling Sidmouth!! :0)
From: Steve in Sidmouth
Date: 18 Aug 06 - 05:34 PM

Now now children, moderate your language and your tone, please!

The only good reason to clone Lizzie (perish the thought) is that each copy of her could put me on a hug card for Sidmouth next year, then I might, just might, have my wildest dreams come true. But could a mere clone be like the real thing? And how would I know?

Subject: RE: Sparkling Sidmouth!! :0)
From: Dave Earl
Date: 18 Aug 06 - 05:35 PM

Rhiannon

The answer is Yes

dave

Subject: RE: Sparkling Sidmouth!! :0)
From: Ruth Archer
Date: 18 Aug 06 - 05:37 PM

I'm not a Middle Bar Singer. I went to Sidmouth for the first time this year. It was a great festival because the town is so totally soaked in music and dance. It is completely different from any other festival I've been to in that there is SO MUCH participative activity and the line between artists and punters is more blurred than anywhere else I've been. I was standing in the Bedford and someone was murmuring in my ear about the act that was on...I turned around and it was Martin Carthy. I was sitting in the Old Ship, and a few people wandered in and started a session - one of them was Eliza Carthy. Folk is all about that kind of communal inclusiveness - the music belongs to all of us.

Such a great, easygoing vibe everywhere, interesting concerts but SO much to do elsewhere, so many chances to get stuck in or listen to fascinating talks and lectures, and a completely unique atmosphere. And loads of people said how much easier it was to get into things round the town, with fewer crowds and queues this year and last.

So i think to judge the event as it is now, you really need to go and experience it firsthand. It really ISN'T just like every other festival. I've been to a few, and I think Sidmouth is unique.

Subject: RE: Sparkling Sidmouth!! :0)
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 18 Aug 06 - 05:41 PM

. . . and I have no knowledge of the pudding's lifestyle and am therefore unaware of whether it is shit or not. Another case of basic comprehension deficiency here. I was objecting to the patronising insistence that festivals are for the mummy + daddy + 2.4 brats, this is 'the right way' and all must conform. That's shit.

Subject: RE: Sparkling Sidmouth!! :0)
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 18 Aug 06 - 05:45 PM

It really ISN'T just like every other festival

It WASN'T just like every other festival. It is now.

Subject: RE: Sparkling Sidmouth!! :0)
From: Chris Cole
Date: 18 Aug 06 - 05:47 PM

Brat????????
How very dare you

Subject: RE: Sparkling Sidmouth!! :0)
From: Ruth Archer
Date: 18 Aug 06 - 05:48 PM

C Richard, I don't know how you can make that judgement if you've not been.

Subject: RE: Sparkling Sidmouth!! :0)
From: Lizzie Cornish
Date: 18 Aug 06 - 05:49 PM

Er...Sweetums...(Oh! This is JUST like the Olden BBC Days isn't it!)

Sweetums....

The only one who assumes that Sidmouth is for 2.2 children and their mommies and daddies is...er...you!

I know you TV is really broken and you can't watch Big Brother tonight, so you're on here being a mischief....

Stevie...HOW MANY HUGS are you expecting for heaven's sake! I may be too scared to leave the house soon! ;0)

Oh...and I invaded the Radio 1 board today...with FOLK MUSIC!! I'm having such fun! I've decided to Heducate the Radio 1 audience about really great music...

Oh..and by the way..language Sweetums, language....missing Big Brother isn't that bad...honestly! Try and control yourself.
;0)

Lizzie :0)

PS...Could we have it in writing that you're never coming to Siddy again please....

PPS..The Anchor have 'Da Management' Bouncy Bouncers all year round...

Subject: RE: Sparkling Sidmouth!! :0)
From: Cllr
Date: 18 Aug 06 - 05:51 PM

Lizzie leave her alone it dosnt help the thread or put you in a good light either.

But it was a great sidmouth wasn't it! see you at reunion Cllr 8-)

Subject: RE: Sparkling Sidmouth!! :0)
From: Chris Cole
Date: 18 Aug 06 - 05:52 PM

Maybe the management were expecting Diane!! Did you pay them Lizzie?

Subject: RE: Sparkling Sidmouth!! :0)
From: Chris Cole
Date: 18 Aug 06 - 05:53 PM

Come on MBs "crew"...And we'll roll the old chariot along....

Subject: RE: Sparkling Sidmouth!! :0)
From: Lizzie Cornish
Date: 18 Aug 06 - 05:54 PM

Nope Sweetums..Siddy is UNIQUE...and if you don't believe me, you can take a listen here to BBC Radio Lancashire's 'The Drift' where they're talking all about Siddy and Cropredy, you can hear it here for a further 6 days on their Listen Again button, just press 'The Drift' and voila!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/mainframe.shtml?http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/lancashire.shtml

Subject: RE: Sparkling Sidmouth!! :0)
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 18 Aug 06 - 05:56 PM

What's your problem? Eyesight, comprehension or both? I haven't been to Sid for two years, that's all. But I know those who have.

Brats = diminutive people, usually accompanied by two larger people who think the sun shines out of their . . .

Big Brother? Never seen it.

BBC forums . . . yes I did look in today. Wished I hadn't. Someone's spilled a large tin of golden syrup across all networks.

Subject: RE: Sparkling Sidmouth!! :0)
From: Chris Cole
Date: 18 Aug 06 - 06:00 PM

Cllr
No... she is being personal and rude to both Lizzie and I. Why should we let her get away with it? I am sick of tired of certian people thinking Diane should be allowed to get away with her behaviour. If my "brat" behaved in that way, I would be apalled. She is a bigot, bully and snob of the worst order. Unless she is mentally ill, there is simply no excuse.

Subject: RE: Sparkling Sidmouth!! :0)
From: Lizzie Cornish
Date: 18 Aug 06 - 06:01 PM

Cllr....

Diane and I have been 'sparring' for years on the BBC board. We know each other 'inside out'. We don't take offence, well...maybe now and again, when she goes completely bonkers of course...

But for the most part, we're a bit like an old married couple...I'm always right...she's always wrong! ;0)

We're both chuckling as we type...and most people know that and don't worry too much. Diane is always Diane...she never pretends to be a Miss Goody Two Shoes...and neither do I....but it's probably best to leave us to get on with it....getting in between us is only for the very brave!!

And please don't take offence, it's hard not to be able to read the intonation into messages, but mine usually are written with a big grin on my face...you can normally tell when I've completely lost it with her or she with me...believe you me! ;0)

If Diane says rotten things about people whom I know and care for, then I'll give her sixpenceworth and be done with it I'm afraid!

So Sweetums....are you going back to the BBC board then?????

Subject: RE: Sparkling Sidmouth!! :0)
From: Lizzie Cornish
Date: 18 Aug 06 - 06:09 PM

Quite right Jan!

You lay off my friend Sweetums! Her little daughter is an absolute delight..and if you don't believe me you can ask Jackie Oates or Jim Causley who've both taught her. She's one of the few children that I've really loved having round to visit and was sorry to see leave.....Most tend to wreck the house from top to bottom causing me to become like that terrible bossy Nanny creature from Channel 3, or is it 4, in order to save my house and it's contents, together with my sanity...but not Jan's daughter..she's a real pleasure and an absolute joy!

She's also being brought up in the traditional music world that you profess to love so much, by parents who care far more deeply about this music than you do. Jan's daughter is part of the next generation of folk....and one day...maybe...you'll be listening to her singing.

Subject: RE: Sparkling Sidmouth!! :0)
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 18 Aug 06 - 06:10 PM

How can I be 'personal' towards phantom contributors who I don't believe actually exist in real life? The pudding and the pasty are nothing but random spam generators programmed with particularly yukky tastes in music and sickening Victoria Gillick-stylee nuclear family complexes. And a particularly pavlovic reaction to any analysis of why Sid is not what it was. Not that they'd know . . .

Subject: RE: Sparkling Sidmouth!! :0)
From: GUEST
Date: 18 Aug 06 - 06:12 PM

Diane and I have been 'sparring' for years on the BBC board. We know each other 'inside out'. We don't take offence

Yes and others have got thoroughly fed up with it. The typical pattern was Lizzie would bait, Diane would bite and everything else slowly degenerated into a row.

This happening is something Lizzie calls "fun". She couldn't realy care less about the effect it has on other people trying to participate in reasonable discussion.

Subject: RE: Sparkling Sidmouth!! :0)
From: Lizzie Cornish
Date: 18 Aug 06 - 06:17 PM

Uh Oh...the Radio 2 Moaning Minnies Away Day To Mudcat Charabang has just turned up...possibly with a faerie on board....

I didn't bait actually, I merely 'responded'..hell of a difference there.

Subject: RE: Sparkling Sidmouth!! :0)
From: GUEST
Date: 18 Aug 06 - 06:21 PM

"I didn't bait actually, I merely 'responded'..hell of a difference there"

Lizzie, you were the troll doing the baiting. That is why you called it fun.

Subject: RE: Sparkling Sidmouth!! :0)
From: Lizzie Cornish
Date: 18 Aug 06 - 06:27 PM

Oh yawn!...don't start up with The Troll business again! For heaven's sake...I'm a Trollop NOT a troll......how many times do I have to remind you?????

;0)

Go off and get thee a rollicking good sense of humour! Jim Causley will be able to help..he's got the best I've seen in a long time! He can't stop grinning! We LOVE Jim Causley!!!

Subject: RE: Sparkling Sidmouth!! :0)
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 18 Aug 06 - 06:31 PM

Good grief, no. no, no, not faerie. The only thing that gets up my nose more than the pasty and the pudding is the flaming faerie.

(btw it's a CHARABANC, not 'bang' (though maybe if it squashed the foodstuffs van . . . )

Thing about the pasty, Guest 06.12, is that I don't know it at all, certainly not 'inside out' (jeez, what a disgusting thought). Tonight apart, obviously, I no longer nowadays frequent these timewasting message boards peopled in the main largely by those who don't want to know anything anyway but are merely using up a month's free subscription with their latest ISP, other than to answer the odd question or announce something, because as you remark, reasonable discussion with those who actually know something of the subject rapidly becomes impossible.

Subject: RE: Sparkling Sidmouth!! :0)
From: Lizzie Cornish
Date: 18 Aug 06 - 06:34 PM

And on that Smiley Note....it's time to say "Adieu Sweet Lovely Guesty" for 'tis way past my bedtime now and I can't stay up all night long merely to keep you entertained.

After all....I have a whole new world of young people to tell about folk music on the Radio 1 board tomorrow!

Do you know they even have a 'Dance' board on the Radio 1 messageboard!...It's filled with people I've NEVER heard of...so I told them about the Peatbog Faeries, Lunasa and Flook....I'll bet that half the Radio 1 audience is dancing to those Myspace links I gave them, even as I type... ;0)

Well....Goodnight My Lovelies....I shall leave you all to it...

Sleep well and pleasant dreams...I'm off to dream of the First Week In August 2007.....

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Lizzie :0)

Subject: RE: Sparkling Sidmouth!! :0)
From: Lizzie Cornish
Date: 18 Aug 06 - 06:37 PM

Diane, if the bus is filled with the Moaning Minnies...it's definitely a CharaBANG!

Now my Horlicks is calling me, as are my bedsocks and cosy hairnet...I have to go.....

;0)

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....zz.z...zzzzzzz.....zz....z..

Subject: RE: Sparkling Sidmouth!! :0)
From: Chris Cole
Date: 18 Aug 06 - 06:40 PM

Sleep tight...
with your family around you.. Is that such a crime? Only in some quarters apparently.

Subject: RE: Sparkling Sidmouth!! :0)
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 18 Aug 06 - 06:49 PM

What a shower of boring wimps. Off to bed already in their middle-England, middle-class, redbrick-little-box semis. Now, will I go out? (You can get anything you want down Green Lanes y'know) . . . or just phone some real people?

Subject: RE: Sparkling Sidmouth!! :0)
From: Chris Cole
Date: 18 Aug 06 - 06:56 PM

ANYTHING?

Subject: RE: Sparkling Sidmouth!! :0)
From: Ruth Archer
Date: 18 Aug 06 - 07:31 PM

"shower of boring wimps"? Why are people wimps who have come here for a reasonable discussion and don't find it fun to get in the middle of your vitriolic, misanthropic mudslinging and Lizzie's prozac-laced whimsy?

This has got old VERY fast.

Subject: RE: Sparkling Sidmouth!! :0)
From: Declan
Date: 18 Aug 06 - 08:10 PM

For all the sensible and sane people who haven't been to Sidmouth.

Don't let this nonsense put you off. It's a great festival. And if you're lucky you probably won't meet the headcases on this thread who are doing their best to ruin this and other threads for everyone else.

And they are now back on the BBC board as well. At least one is and the other is sure to follow.

Can the two of you not set up a site of your own where you can slag each other off and leave the rest of us in peace?

Subject: RE: Sparkling Sidmouth!! :0)
From: Ron Davies
Date: 18 Aug 06 - 09:55 PM

Admittedly I may be more impressed by a wealth of great squeezebox players than a Briton or Irishman might be. But I loved to hear all the concertinas, melodions, etc. all over Sidmouth--(despite being warned in "The Melodions are Coming" that "This is the way the world ends--all in the key of D.")

Not to mention--just on the prom--balalaika orchestra, George Fornby songs, Trinidad steel drum, Irish band, autoharp group, Paraguayan harp, accordion orchestra (Dorset group of mainly older women), Appalachian fiddle and clogging, Western swing group--just impromptu--which I joined. Boogie-woogie piano. And on and on.

I had probably the best Sidmouth ever--in large part due to renting a viola from Glen Titmus--at a more than reasonable rate. So I could just walk into any informal group and throw a low harmony into the mix--if that seemed welcome. As well as sing some songs. Walked into the Swan to join in singing Daisy, Daisy and wound up playing 4 hours in the Swan with a spectacular concertina player. The tunes kept tumbling out--Irish, English, Scottish, Russian, German, American. And he liked a low harmony.

I did try to get into 2 concerts. No luck--sold out. So--back to the prom--and the York and Faulkner, the Volunteer, the Middle Bar, the Swan, etc. Not exactly a hardship. Sorry I didn't make it to the Theater Bar--I meant to.

Only one major problem--like Lizzie, I found the cloning workshop wasn't developed enough to let me be everywhere at the same time.

Saw old friends--and met a lot of new ones.

Highlights--far too many to list--but just a few:

Being serenaded every day between 8 and 8:30 by a wonderful 79-year old Dutch melodion player just outside our hotel window--with the sounds of the surf in the background. Having heard him play Lili Marlen in 3 different keys, I went out, met him, and sang D-Day Dodgers for him.

The delightful puppeteer at the Blackmore garden (after the Sidmouth Town Band--also very impressive). He (a Middle Bar singer, I'm pretty sure), did by far the best Punch and Judy I've ever seen   (Jan, who's English, seconds this). Wonderful rapport with his young audience.

Sillier Songs, March to the Sea--more of us than I've ever seen before--and then Gloom and Doom. All just on Thursday.

Playing in the band for the 25th annual non-existent ceilidh at the ford. First time for me.

Spectacular fireworks--in some ways better than the those on the Washington Mall on the 4th of July--in Sidmouth they came thick and fast--no gaps.


And, and, and--as noted--far too many to list.

Sidmouth truly sparkled--literally even--on the sea. The best weather I can recall certainly helped--but based on the enthusiasm and crowds I saw most places, the festival seems more hale and hearty than ever.

Subject: RE: Sparkling Sidmouth!! :0)
From: Ron Davies
Date: 18 Aug 06 - 10:40 PM

Just to clarify a bit- of the prom list I only joined the Western swing group. The others, of course, I just listened to--and, if buskers, encouraged with a pound or 2.

Subject: RE: Sparkling Sidmouth!! :0)
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 19 Aug 06 - 01:58 AM

I see there's been much stretching of limited intellect by the arduous extraction of single words per post in typical 'Cat fashion while I've been out. To remind those of scant attention span, the 'boring wimps' reference was addressed at those who sodded off to bed early, rather than confront the reality of how glorious Sidmouth was once (which they never knew), rather than what it is now: a clone of any other run-of-the-mill festival. If you would care to rewind and actually READ THE THREAD, you'd recall that this saga began after I'd taken issue with some particularly nauseatingly patronising and smug declarations (which certainly would be more at home on the bland, dumbed-down, MOR, Cambridge-backing BBC forum where the aforementioned 'faerie' is campaigning for a Morris ban, than here) that Sidmouth is about 'continuity and family' and music that was safe, bland and non-political. Like hell it is (or was). To me it was workshops and seeing acts and specially-staged spectacles it was impossible to catch elsewhere all day followed by ceilidhs then playing all night. If these are not activities that appeal to today's just-appeared-out-of the-woodwork-whingers, they could hold their continuous pub singarounds absolutely anywhere or amuse their multitudinous offspring on a different beach which actually has sand. And stick their heads in it while they were about it. Or join 'lizziecornish' in her latest deluded campaign to inflict the dregs of the MOR fakesong singersongwriters onto R1 so that if she succeeds, the population at large will say 'so THAT'S f*lk music?'

Subject: RE: Sparkling Sidmouth!! :0)
From: Dave Earl
Date: 19 Aug 06 - 02:58 AM

We know that Sidmouth is not what it used to be when Steve Heap/Mrs Casey Music ran it.

Thats the whole point!

We think (you obviously don't) that the new organasing team, some of them are personal friends, are doing a good job under difficult circumstances and have produced an excellent festival that provides what we enjoy.

You don't'have to like what the Festival is now and harking back to what it was, and may never be again, is not helpful.

If you want to start a campaign to get the festival back to what it used to be feel free but I don't think you will get much support from people on this thread and you will have only yourself to blame!!

Who do you think you are to question the level of intellect of the contributers? And as for being whimps who retire early - some of us have jobs and families and need a reasonable amount of sleep.

And so Diane - I expect you have been told before - you are entitlted to your view of things and life in general but way you express yourself around this part of the web doesn't impress me

Subject: RE: Sparkling Sidmouth!! :0)
From: Ruth Archer
Date: 19 Aug 06 - 03:26 AM

"rather than confront the reality of how glorious Sidmouth was once (which they never knew), rather than what it is now: a clone of any other run-of-the-mill festival."

Well, i may not have been to the previous Sidmouth, but I have lots of friends who have been going for 20 years and are delighted with its present incarnation. You have never experienced Sidmouth as it is, but still feel qualified to judge it based on second-hand information. Maybe both of us should keep our mouths shut. But as for it being a clone of any run-of-the-mill festival, i gave you several examples earlier of why this isn't the case, none of which you were able to respond to because you WEREN'T THERE.

"To me it was workshops and seeing acts and specially-staged spectacles it was impossible to catch elsewhere all day followed by ceilidhs then playing all night"

apart from the spectacles, that's EXACTLY what Sidmouth was this year. That's what people have been trying to tell you. And despite the lack of specially-staged spectacle you still got great, smaller-scale stuff like Morris Offspring and Black Swan doing the spots during the LNEs - spectacle indeed, if the response of the crowds was anything to go by.

I programme a year-round venue and a festival. I taught Arts Management at university level for 3 years. I know what the current committee have taken on, and what they've achieved is, quite frankly, a staggering success in such a short period of time. I really don't know what people like you hope to accomplish with your whinging. Event management is a thankless task: people take for granted all that runs well, and crucify you for everything that doesn't (whether it's your fault or not).

This "limited intellect" will continue to enjoy Sidmouth for many years to come.

Subject: RE: Sparkling Sidmouth!! :0)
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 19 Aug 06 - 03:28 AM

I'm not seeking 'support' from most contributors to this thread: I'd be horrified if the narrow-minded, 'good-enough-for f*lk', nuke- family-friendly dumbdowners approved of my stance. As it is, only the Socialist Worker seller seems to get where I'm coming from, which is really quite amusing. I've said all along that it was a miracle that those who strove to cobble together something or other from the ashes of Sidmouth achieved anything at all. I wished them well (though with incredulity) in 1994 and have continued to do so, but it's written down nowhere that I have to actually like the overall result. I don't dislike it either but as the new Sidmouth has nothing to distinguish it from any other town-based festival, I consider it only worth attending if there's nothing better to do. It's no longer 'special'.

As for my assessment of the level of intellect of some contributors, this was based on their inability to extract more than a single word out of many and thus misrepresent the context. That's 'limited'. And selfish. Though possibly not mischievous as in most cases they appear to lack the wit. Wonder which word they'll pick from this post. No, only joking. I don't care.

Subject: RE: Sparkling Sidmouth!! :0)
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 19 Aug 06 - 03:50 AM

The Offsprings? Black Swans? Yes, fantastic. Though absolutely not 'acts that it is impossible to catch elsewhere'. They're everywhere and have been for years. It's not necessary to go to Sidmouth to see them. They're at or on their way to your local venue now. But there's no 'Flame', no 'Fanfare For The South-West', no fabulous international dance displays, no Shooting Roots. Thus, it's not special any more. I've got to have a really good reason to wend my way to an awkward corner of this island, providing it doesn't clash with Womad as occurs some years. And there isn't one.

Subject: RE: Sparkling Sidmouth!! :0)
From: Ruth Archer
Date: 19 Aug 06 - 03:58 AM

You can't dislike it. You haven't been, and have no evidence on which to judge. Anyone with more than "limited intellect" knows that, in order to defend a position, you must present evidence for your case. Despite others giving you numerous examples of why what you say is simply not true, all you can do is keep repeating "it's no longer special. It's the same as any other town-based festival."

The reason you cannot defend your argument is because you have no experience of the event. All you want is a fight and to engage in pointless one-upmanship, which is clearly why you enjoy goading Lizzie so much. You may need a place to let off steam, but I wish (and I think others would agree) that you'd find somewhere else to do your irrelevant and baseless ranting.

Have you considered some sort of help? Anger management classes, maybe?

BTW, I was one of those up till dawn every day and left my "brat" at home with her dad. And I still think you're full of shite.

Subject: RE: Sparkling Sidmouth!! :0)
From: Ruth Archer
Date: 19 Aug 06 - 04:02 AM

There's no Flame because people got quite badly injured while doing it. But as long as it was in the name of your amusemaent, CR, I guess it's all good.

I did Womad for three years. Overcrowded, overpriced nonsense full of musical wallpaper with a campsite like a refugee camp.

Subject: RE: Sparkling Sidmouth!! :0)
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 19 Aug 06 - 04:14 AM

Ah right. "Dislike' is the one word to be picked on, to answer my rhetorical question. What I actually said was that I DON'T 'dislike' it, meaning actually that I don't give a toss either way because I'm not currently involved in it. Hey ho.

Dunno who this unpleasant crumpet is so have no idea if it's 'full of shite' as it assumes I am. But no, I don't want a fight, but need very much to counter the patronising crap dished out by those who wish to impose their reactionary, drab and complacent view of music and indeed life on others. Sidmouth ain't special now. It's OK but ordinary. You like that? Keep going and wallow in the dreary awfulness of the Marlborough's open mic with the cornishpasties of the world. Just keep your filthy mits off the glorious trad music and dance that's been my passion for decades.