Madam,

As Chair of the Monmouth Festival I read with utter dismay your report on the Town Council's spending plans for this year where it was decided to cut the grant to the Festival as we "were now in profit" and "appeared to have pulled our socks up".

If it were not for the fact that the Festival is one of the most important events in the Town's calendar and dependant on Grant and public support these statements would be unworthy of response.

May I remind these civic minded councillors that the Festival is a non-profit making organisation reliant solely on voluntary effort and support from local authorities, business and the general public. All events are entirely free.

The Council have taken their decision without any reference to the Festival Committee and the first we knew of it was when we read your report. As they did not see fit to discuss this matter with us I believe it is important to draw to the attention of the people of Monmouth what has occurred over the past few years.

1) In June 1999 the Festival was to all intents bankrupt and a plea was made in The Beacon for help to save the Festival. A new committee was formed and despite the time restraints were able to run a nine day Festival at the end of July. Performers and the public were generous, the weather was kind,and we ended the year with our finances in the black.

2) The 2000 Festival Committee made a presentation to the Town Council stating that we could not continue to survive from hand to mouth, We felt the Festival was an important event in promoting Monmouth and requested a grant of £5,000. We were given £1,500.

3) In 2000 we were fortunate to obtain a grant of £5,000 from the Millennium Fund and the County Council doubled their previous grant. The Punch House, King's Head and other businesses as well as a large number of private individuals gave generously and we were able to stage what many considered to be one of the best Festivals ever.

• We were able to provide day-time entertainment and extended the range of events on offer ensuring that all tastes and ages were catered for.

• We produced 50,000 Brochures publicising "Monmouth in Summer". This Brochure listed every event occurring in Monmouth during the summer and was distributed via Tourist Information Boards and through Newscom.

• We also produced an additional 16,000 leaflets publicising the event.

• We partly funded the new Stage provided by the Three Towns Initiative. This is available to all organisations and has already been used for other events.

• We involved many various organisations in the stewarding of the Festival which generated a far greater community spirit. The young people of Monmouth were superb with pupils from both the Comprehensive and HMSG giving freely of their time working for nine days as Bucket Collectors.

• An estimated total of 17,000 people attended all the events with many visitors from other parts of the UK and abroad.

Despite the fact that we would not be receiving another Millennium grant we had plans to extend the 2001 Festival even further in order to promote Monmouth as a vibrant, exciting town which visitors would appreciate and enjoy. The Town Council decision puts these plans at risk.

Monmouth needs visitors and publicity and the Monmouth Festival offers the opportunity of achieving both aims. Would it not have been more helpful if the Town Council, instead of advising us through The Beacon that we "should make a profit" and that our grant- which incidentally will not cover street cleaning - has been cut, had instead arranged a meeting on how we could build on the success of last year's Festival.

We all wish to improve Monmouth and help it thrive and develop but this cannot be achieved if short term decisions are made without any consideration of their long term effect. Without increased support and a cohesive strategy the Monmouth Festival will never be able to achieve its potential of becoming a major attraction in Wales, the UK and beyond.

We believe this is a bad decision taken in haste and we urge the Council to think again!

Neill Bell

Chair, Monmouth Festival

Apex House

Wonastow Road

Monmouth