We all had a wonderful time as usual and look forward to next year.
You all do such stalwart stuff and I hope you have all recovered by
now. Many thanks.
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Thank you for a great festival which must have taken a huge amount of
organising. We thoroughly enjoyed all the entertainment and the venue
is superb, but we felt the seating and table layouts at the right-hand
side of the hall (facing the stage) made it sore on the neck having to
crane round to see the stage ! We were somewhat perturbed on the Saturday
evening session to arrive and find most of the tables with reserved notices
on them. We understood parties of 15 and over could reserve tables ahead
but many of the tables did not have anything like that number seated at
them. Was it a case of "who you know" ? This meant we had to sit at one
of the tables in front of the bar - not a problem until later in the evening
when we were surrounded by crowds of drunk teenagers - not all of whom
appeared to be of legal drinking age- falling about and spilling drink
over us. We left before the end of the evening's entertainment as the
situation was becoming quite alarming. Presumably you want to attract
visitors to your festivals and rightly so when you are offering such a
great weekend of country music, and you put so much hard work and organisation
into planning the event. It is a great pity that it was marred by the
behaviour of these young people on the Saturday evening. Our impression
was that the venue was regarded by the local youth as a place where they
could drink themselves into oblivion with impunity, something they may
have more difficulty in doing in other local licensed premises where there
may be a stricter approach to under-age and binge drinking. We would be
reluctant to return or recommend the event to others because of this.
Sorry to be so critical but please regard it as constructive!
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Our reply -
Thank
you for your much valued feedback. We always welcome comments that are
honest and constructive as they help us understand our audience and allow
us to follow our continuous improvement policy. The layout of any venue
is difficult but when the premises are built for the needs of an indoor
horse riding centre the challenges are much more. We have had the same
layout for the last two years and accept it might not be ideal. However,
we will review for next year and take your comments on board to see if
we can improve the layout for the comfort of our audience. We are surprised
that you thought most tables were reserved on the Saturday night when
to our knowledge only 6 tables out of over 70 were officially reserved.
There were unofficial signs placed on tables by larger groups with their
club crests etc. on them. This in our opinion adds to the friendly atmosphere
we strive to foster and in no way stop the tables being used by others.
We operate a first come first served policy. Most of the reserved tables
throughout the weekend were for Sponsor companies who are very important
to the funding of the Festival. Others (three tables) were for large block
booking groups which we offer to any party over 12 when they book their
tickets. The Festival is run for all age groups and we welcome them all,
teenagers included. However, the conduct of any of our audience, staff
or indeed artists is important to us. We recognise that the behaviour
of excessively drunk people, young or old, can be unacceptable. Our stewards,
bar staff and Festival officials all have a watching brief and we do our
best to continually monitor potential problem areas. We accept we don’t
always get it right and will ensure that there is a greater presence in
the bar area next year to try to police the situation better. Members
of the audience who note unacceptable conduct should alert staff to the
situation and it will be dealt with immediately. If you had highlighted
the problem to us at the time we would have done our utmost to ensure
your enjoyment of the evening wasn’t ruined. We found seats and tables
for other people who were not comfortable sitting in the bar area. We
are by no means perfect in our running of the Festival. We do our best
and strive to give all of our audience and artists a Festival to remember.
We are disappointed you feel you cannot recommend our Festival to others
or indeed return to our next Festival. This is certainly not what we want
happening.
David
Shearer
Chairman
Northern Nashville Caithness Country Music Festival
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Thank you all for a great weekend, I enjoyed every moment the music
was great, everything was so well organised, It just gets better every
year, I don't know how you do it. Thanks for all your hard work.
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We had a wonderful time and your hospitality was great! We loved our
short stay in Scotland. Please give us a call when you are here next
fall. Tell everyone thank you from the Woodys.
In Harmony, Dyann & Michael Woody - http://www.thewoodysmusic.com
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Fantastic weekend everything was great, excellent entertainment A1++++++++++++++++++++++++
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Thanks David, glad it all went well. All your hard work was very obvious,
I'll pass on to the boys and see you soon. Cheers, Kevin (The Jacks)
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Was at the show on sat night really enjoyed it apart from the amount
of under age school kids at it, was always led to believe they were
only allowed to attend the afternoon shows only.
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Hi Davy, we had a great time give our thanks to all involved with the
festival. It was so well run and the sound system was A1. See you all
in June. Cheers, Brendan (Quinn)
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Thanks again for another great festival of country music and all the
hard work put into making it a success! Looking forward to next year
already. Best of all was Brendan Quinn and the James Quinn Band. Not
quite sure why Travis Le Doyt was there though - this was not country
music!!! Well done everyone.
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Thank you for your hospitality and help over the weekend, It was good
to have so many happy and cheerful helpers, I think everything ran smoothly
after the initial mix up concerning power. I believe George has put
the dates in for next year so we look forward to that.
Best Regards Si (Simon Payling - Smalltown Audio) - www.smalltownaudio.org.uk
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Many, many thanks for a wonderful festival yet again with a special
mention to the young bands who were a pleasure to listen to! It was
also a lovely surprise to get a visit from the Junior Pipe Band; they
are so good! I know that a great lot of work goes into putting the festival
together and that a lot of the helpers must be nearing exhaustion but
I'd like to let them know that all their efforts made for a great weekend
for us the audience. And I know they are not finished yet; all the tidying
up and dismantling of the props, machinery, generators etc., must take
a lot of time and effort! Thanks again to you all.
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Thanks again for having us at the festival! We all had a really great
time and enjoyed it. Everyone was so nice and accommodating! We arrived
home last night around 7 - no luggage though! of course. We figured
it wouldn't make it b/c of our short connection in London. They say
it will be here today. Please make sure you look us up the next time
you are in Nashville! Thanks again, Lindsey Chance JSI
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Lindsey said the event this weekend was great. Glad you had a good attendance.
Thanks for taking such good care of Lindsey, Travis, and the musicians.
Lindsey had nothing but compliments on the way the event was handled.
Thanks, Jude
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