Comments posted on mudcat by a Sidmouth Folk Week supporter in response to my first draft of page folk90. See particularly her comments regarding the woman who expressed delight that the arena would not be used in 2006.
Subject: RE: Sidmouth Folk Week 2006 From: Lizzie Cornish - PM Date: 18 Feb 06 - 01:36 PM
Stevie Scarlett!!!!! OOOOOOOH!!!!!
Don't you go smiling at me at that meeting when all the time you were sitting there writing twaddle and doing your usual thing of putting the festival down at every opportunity....casting doubts and printing things in the most negative way you possibly can....whilst getting people to 'hit' your meddling website! And the way you cleverly just add it in amongst the good stuff! OOOOHHH!!!!OOOOOHHHHH!!!!!!! 'Tis a good jod you're out of my reach Stevie else you'd have your head down something very uncomfortable at present...and you'd be feeling more than a little flushed!!!!
OOOOOOOHHHHHHHH!!!! How...HOW can you keep doing this Stevie????
OK...a few bits you mysteriously decided to leave out of the Stevie Snipes on your Website:
Eddie Upton talking gently but passionately about how, for *so* many people Sidmouth has become their 'spiritual home'...as they've been coming here *every* year for decades!
The hotel owner who was asking about tickets for his guests and then stated that he's already booked right up for this year...and that people had booked up *last year* to come back again this year!!!!!
That lovely man, Lawrence Heath, who's helping to run The Ham this year, standing up telling us all about the great acts who are appearing there and then telling us how he and his family have been here every year since the 1970's and their daughter has *never* had a year in her life *without* Sidmouth being in it...and how they booked to come here back last year even without knowing if Sidmouth was taking place....because they knew that it would never die and they wanted to keep Sidmouth in their lives FOREVER!!
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!
And that *DAFT* woman whom you've written this about on your site:
"..One person said that she was glad to get rid of the International Festival and all the arena events, which she saw as overpriced. She saw the 'new-look' Folk Week as being much more in the spirit of the 'old days'. Her view, that the town is glad to be rid of all the 'excess' of the Steve Heap years is one shared by many local people and some older folkies..."
....IS NOT TALKING FOR THE TOWN OF SIDMOUTH!!!!!!! That DAFT woman was talking through her usual drunken haze...perhaps you noticed the aroma as you went out Stevie...and she is to be seen almost every day staggering along the pavement just past the Post Office, she lives round there..she has also been banned from quite a few venues, and, quite frankly should have been banned from the meeting after the disgusting claptrap she was coming out with!....and which YOU have decided to use on your site!!!!! OOOOOOOHHHHH!!!!!
Her crazy view is not "shared by many local people or older folkies"...THAT is *your* opinion and those are your words and what *you* want people to believe. I've spoken to many local people and shopkeepers and they all thought that last year was fantastic!! They felt that the festival had become 'theirs' again...Oh and do you remember Eddie saying that yet *another* local business had come forward asking to sponsor Sidmouth this year? Paragon Books I think it was.....
BOTH OF YOU are going on that Trebuchet, except this time you are NOT going to Budleigh Salterton...oh no, no, no,...even Budleigh is too good for you....this time I'm sending you over to Florida...no...not Disneyland...I'm aiming for the Swamps and the Crocodiles this time Stevie....because I've had ENOUGH!!!!
I KNEW you'd be up to something! I DID!!!!! When Eddie asked "Any Questions?" and there was a *total* silence from you, I went cold all over...others were very pleased about it, but I KNEW what you'd be doing!!! And when that chap mentioned about his friend and the Arena he was told about Blackmore Gardens having far more to offer this year and he was very pleased and satisfied with what he heard, saying that he would pass it on to his friend! OOOOOOHHHH!!!!
And you didn't report on our lovely Excitement Officer(my phrase, not an official one)...bless her...young Jo...who was there, as she said, purely to offer Enthusiasm and Excitement! WHY didn't you mention her Stevie???? Probably too darn busy trying to make out that no young people want to come to Sidmouth I expect! Jo came down all the way from Bath for that meeting Stevie....because she believes in Sidmouth Festival and wants to do all she can to help!
Shame on you!!!
Perhaps they should make *you* the Pessimist Officer...and we could have some Stocks in Blackmore Gardens where we can all throw wet sponges at you...I reckon at £2 a time we could make a *fortune* and ensure Sidmouth's future well into the next century!!
OOOOOHHHHHH!!!
And you heard Phillipa talking about the EthnoFolk people coming in this year for the teenagers and 'older' young people! You heard her saying how Blackmore Gardens is going to have a Village Green feel, with far more things to do...And what about all those great students from Newcastle coming down to teach in the workshops...bigger craft tent, more for the children to do etc....Laurel Swift coming back this year too....
OOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
I had huge respect for all the people associated with Sidmouth Folk Week yesterday...but TODAY after reading your pessimistic rubbish, my respect has increased a thousand fold for them....because to go ahead and do what they are all doing *so well* with such love and committment, whilst having to put up with complete twits like you...well...it just goes to show how *deep* their love for Sidmouth *truly* is........
....and how *utterly* shallow yours is!!
Sidmouth Folk Festival will continue for a very, very long time to come Stevie, for the very reason that it is *so* loved by the people who are committed to keeping it going...and that includes *all* the people who come here year after year after year, along with those working so hard behind the scenes.
Oh..and you also forgot to mention how the audience last night was played in and treated to some lovely music from Eddie, Tom and John...AND how all the chairs were not on the stage, but out there on the floor with all of us, as they wanted the meeting to be very informal and very open.
You do yourself *far more* of an injustice than you do them Stevie.
Lizzie
My tongue-in-cheek reply to Lizzie was as follows:
Subject: RE: Sidmouth Folk Week 2006 From: Steve in Sidmouth - PM Date: 20 Feb 06 - 08:56 AM
Lizzie.
My dearest petal.
I have received a few considered comments on my draft report, and I have noticed yours. The webpage is being updated. The other evening, whilst you were no doubt busy continuing to vent your emotions, I (and several folk dance friends) were supporting the organisers of Last Minute Ceilidhs by attending one of the Great Western Ceilidhs in Exeter. It really is a case of 'use it or lose it' with many of these local folk events, so where were you?
It was a splendid evening, the Pixies were in fine form and all that was missing was the sight of you with my name on the top of your hug card.
The next day, I was busy supporting another local dance group. It's all worth it just for the hugs - you should try it sometime, it might make you more equitable.
As for the 'daft' woman at the meeting, I was told all about her and considered putting a dismissive comment in my report. However, it was pointed out to me that I should report what she said without being judgemental. It was also pointed out to me that despite the fact that she may well be 'bonkers' what she actually said has (to my direct knowledge) been said many times by many people in Sidmouth. It is sad I know, but it is also a fact.
As for your comment:
It was Steve Heap's Sidmouth which brought me to live in this town in the first place and for that I will always be very grateful, because it has given me a music that I love.
Yes I know, it's one the reasons I came to live here too.
I think we need to enjoy Sidmouth and the world while it lasts - if the worst happens (which I naturally believe it will) Sidmouth will be under the waves and all we shall have left are a few faded images of how life once was, and of course a few songs. Our town council will probably be in a bunker somewhere, debating the colour of roofing felt on a garden shed, oblivious to the fact that the whole road has been washed away.
Believe it or not, when I bought my home in Sidford I checked how far above sea level it was, and having in mind even in those days the melting of the icecaps. It may not be long now - and as a scientist I know a bit about positive feedback. It's very dangerous. It is why a door slams shut so suddenly and why Chernobyl was an accident waiting to happen (any increase in temperature makes the moderator less effective). Negative feedback is so much safer, don't you agree?
Further 'discussion' (if you can be bothered to read it!) should be accessible using this mudcat link.