Meeting in Sidmouth: 23 October 2004.
A meeting to discuss the Sidmouth Fringe Festival of 2005 was held in Sidmouth on 23 October 2004. Convened by Tony Day (a Middle Bar Singer who lives in Lympstone) and John Dowell (a former director of the Sidmouth Folk Festival and who also lives locally) it was open only to people and organisations intending to perform/sing/dance at the 2005 fringe - and to the prime organisers.
One decision was to organise another website to give details of 2005/6. Details of the others are at the bottom of page folk44.htm.
The latest site was registered on 23 October 2004.
The only 'official' summary of what went on at the meeting was posted on mudcat.
From: John Golightly 01 Nov 04 - 11:47 AM
Hi All
I am one of the (in Tony Day's words) "two dozen people who spent an amicable, enthusiastic and hard working three and a half hours on the 23rd, putting together the bones of what is going to be a very enjoyable festival"
This is my personal view:
Everything I saw and heard was positive. There was no dissent, bickering or whinging. There was a spirit of active and enthusiastic co-operation between people who had previously been working separately, and are now working together very much as a team.
Those present have different types of background & experience from inside and outside the folk world, and from inside and outside Sidmouth. I feel these individuals will complement and assist each other very well in putting on a worthwhile festival in 2005.
It won't be the same, of course. Neither will it be easy. The "feel" will be the same as ever, I'm sure, but the execution (and scale) may well be quite different, so if you don't like change then brace yourself.
We'll see - bear with us, & keep the positive comments coming.
(Contact information that is now out of date has been deleted here.)
That's all for now....watch this space, though.
A press release was subsequently issued on 9 November. This contains the most recent contact information.