- MayHeydays-attendees - Mailman test

May Heydays mid-March messages
by Attendees to MayHeydays 12 Mar '23

12 Mar '23

Dear Supporters, We are pleased to be able to tell you that preparations are going well. Lots of you have booked, so that we have added in a couple of ceilidhs for Saturday and Sunday evening, to prevent people getting crowded in the main halls. On the last day in January we had a bit of a hitch when, following illness and staff changes, the school caterers who ran the café in 2022 decided not to do it again this year. But, we have managed to find an Evesham cafe which does on-site catering for events such as ours and they are busy creating a menu for us. They’ve have had a look at the school kitchen and are happy to proceed, though with a few details still to be sorted out. The menu and choices will be similar to last year but we have to be aware prices may rise a bit, especially considering the national food inflation. With these caterers, we are again doing our best to try and reduce queues around the meal times, which may entail pre-ordering, particularly on Friday night and for main meal items. There will be a separate D.I.Y. salad server, and we plan two tea/coffee stations, one to be run by stewards or other volunteers. As a number of people have already asked, we are opening day ticket sales as of tomorrow (or as soon as the booking forms get loaded on the website…). The countdown has started in earnest and we are all very much looking forward to our second May Heydays. Please respond to director(a)mayheydays.org.uk or tickets(a)mayheydays.org.uk Regards Mecki and Team PS: You may like to know that your Director is even now actively working on the line-up for 2024, Friday 3rd to Monday 6th May - put it in your diary!

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May Heydays 2022 - how are we all doing?
by Attendees to MayHeydays 08 May '22

08 May '22

Dear Supporter It has been a real pleasure receiving the positive and constructive feedback about our first May Heydays folkdance weekend – do keep the comments coming. We’ll be collating the data and passing it as relevant to the school, caterers, sound crew, and stewards. Of particular interest have been the thoughts about how to make the programme better next year, which Mecki is already building into her draft. With the pandemic at its current state, attendance at a dance festival such as ours clearly had to be a matter of personal choice and balance of risks. Understandably, a subject of interest has been that of providing adequate ventilation during the event. Not easy to achieve a balance acceptable to all in unknown venues with differing levels of throughput, but we did what we could and have received comments about what could perhaps be tried next year. In addition, one piece of information we would interested to learn is the occurrence of Covid amongst attendees; we know of two confirmed cases and an incidence of ‘pinging’ (which we did not even know was still active in the UK). If you believe you or yours possibly contracted Covid as a result of attending the festival, please do let us know. The information will not be made public or linked to anyone’s name but will be summarised to give us a clearer idea of the risks we all face in attending an activity to which we were so keen to return. If you were so unfortunate, we do hope the infection is light and you have a speedy recovery, with no long lasting effects. Many thanks The MHD Team Please respond to: director(a)mayheydays.org.uk or: tickets(a)mayheydays.org.uk

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May Heydays - see you there!
by Attendees to MayHeydays 27 Apr '22

27 Apr '22

Hi, All Our Lovely Attendees, Performers, Stewards and Staff May Heydays 2022 - This is really happening! This announcement is attached as a word.doc if you prefer to read it that way. Your tickets will be at/outside reception, ready mounted on lanyards. Some last minute items: The Programme - Mecki has added some workshops which will include bringing the Drama Studio into use: • Scottish Country Dancing with Fiona Grant • Northampton dances with Bubbles • More Dancing Queens with Jeannie Byron Williams • An English Miscellany with Brian Stanton Café - the caterer has advised: • Unfortunately, they have been unable to set up a card machine, so cash only please. • No nuts/nut based products will be included in any sales. • Cheese & biscuits have been taken off the menu since the price rises make it non-viable. Plus, all meal deal vouchers will now be sold by the cafe; please do not apply to tickets(a)mayheydays.org.uk...... Donations: • Our thanks once again to those of you who kindly agreed to donate 5% of your 2020 ticket money back then to help fund our costs. • We reported later that for those who donated and rolled-over their tickets, we would maybe have to ask that ticket prices be topped up at a subsequent festival – which would have been cumbersome with about 130 such donors, involving differing sums. So, we suggested to have a donations bucket at check-in this year, inviting those who wish to translate their planned donation into a cash sum. • The MHD team has now decided that we will distribute all the money you donate at the venue to those musicians and performers we had to cancel in 2020. No performer insisted on a cancellation fee or any other recompense, so we think this is the fair thing to do. A lot of performers suffered great financial loss during the lockdowns. It would give us great pleasure to help at least a little! Reminders: • May we once more ask all attendees to bring: - Water bottle - Re-usable drinking cup - Eating utensils – if doing some self-catering • And of the sensible COVID PRECAUTIONS: - Please do not come if you have any Covid symptoms or have recently tested positive - Please take a Covid test prior to departure (on, say, April 28th or 29th) - Please bring your own lateral flow tests - If you develop any symptoms or feel unwell during the festival, please tell a member of staff and leave the event; seek medical advice if needed. Many thanks – The Management Team

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May Heydays 2022 - pre-event info
by Attendees to MayHeydays 17 Apr '22

17 Apr '22

Hi All, (if you would prefer to read this as a download it is attached as a PDF). Thanks again for booking/re-booking/staying with us - and we’re sure it’s really going to happen this time…. … but, let’s all some sensible take COVID PRECAUTIONS: - Please do not come if you have any Covid symptoms or have recently tested positive - Please take a Covid test prior to departure (on, say, April 28th or 29th) - Please bring your own plentiful supply of 70% + alcohol hand sanitizer, plus lateral flow tests - and masks if you feel happier using them - If you develop any symptoms or feel unwell during the festival, please tell a member of staff and leave the event; seek medical advice if needed. Each attendee is asked to please bring the following for personal use: - Re-fillable water bottle; re-usable drinking cup; eating utensils (if doing some self-catering) The arrival timetable on April 29th is suggested as: 4.30pm onwards – field campers can arrive 5.30pm onwards – others attendees can arrive 6.00pm onwards – as soon as they are ready, tickets can be picked up from reception 6.00pm to 7.30pm – café will be serving dinner (remember you can buy meal deal vouchers in advance) Key initial advice, since it is all new to us (there will be signs put out for most of this and the school plan is attached): School Entry: in Four Pools Road, facing the school, use the furthest left/northern vehicle entrance Campers – take the first left before the tennis courts and drive along the back of the courts to access the field. Cars can stay on the field or, if rain is forecast, maybe move back to the tennis court car park (allow time for other campers to arrive first – it’s a single lane field access). Performer/staff camper vans only – spaces available in front of tennis courts, either side of its entry gates. A few spaces for performers may be available further up closer to the English block. Disabled campers only – turn right where signed opposite the tennis courts. The one caravan booked could maybe park on the left, alongside the Maths block, campervans turn left and park facing or backing onto that block – from which electrical supply will be provided. (A bit of suck-it-and-see this first time, but we would like the vans grouped and not spread across the open ‘Quad’ area.) Cars – please fill the Tennis Court space first – 80 cars possible. After that there is a small park to the left side of the courts - this will be coned initially to help caravans make the turn around the back of the courts. Reception, café – will be in the English block, entry between it and the adjacent block. STEWARDING: it is not impossible that we may lose a few stewards due to Covid. Additional offers of help are always welcome. At the end on May 2nd: 3.45pm – programme ends. Any help with tidying up will be much appreciated. Field campers may stay overnight, but since May 3rd is a normal school day, they should leave on Tuesday before 8.30am, or, between 9.15 to 10am. Lanyards and tickets: don’t forget to leave these with us. FEEDBACK: please provide us feedback on any aspect of the festival, on paper, by email to any member of staff, or, better, go to mayheydays.org.uk/feedback. See you there! Monty. for the May Heydays Team

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May Heydays 2022 catering
by Attendees to MayHeydays 10 Apr '22

10 Apr '22

Dear Supporters We have put info about the May Heydays 2022 menu and meal deal vouchers on the website, but for those who don't 'do' websites I attach the announcement and the menu with this note. Those not interested in vouchers or a pre-look at the menu can now do their own thing..... Please reply to tickets(a)mayheydays.org.uk Regards Monty

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May Heydays 2022
by Attendees to MayHeydays 2020 23 Aug '21

23 Aug '21

Dear Fellow Dancers, I hope you will be pleased to hear that the festival committee has surfaced from it long hibernation and is on the case for May Heydays 2022. Even now, Director Mecki is busy contacting bands, callers and technical staff who will make up the backbone of what we hope will be a great 1st (3rd planned!)) weekend in Evesham. But it is you who will put the flesh on the bones and I am contacting you as being amongst the 131 ticket holders from 2019 (whether punters, stewards or ‘staff’) who by positive action (or pleasing inertia) have rolled some or all their monies over for 2 years now. I’m very aware that by May next year we will all be 3 years older since we said farewell to Eastbourne; like mine, your aches and pains may have grown a bit and I guess we will all be decidedly rusty on the dance floor. Nevertheless, we do hope to see you on Friday 29th April next – you, and we hope, another 100 or so more. It may have to be a somewhat different festival in some ways, but let’s see what the next 8 months bring. (Lichfield in October could be a test case, we hope to drop into that.) In the meantime, check out the website every now and again as Mecki and Colin start to populate it with info on how the programme is developing. I’ll keep you posted on how ticket costs pan out compared with what you already have in the kitty, meanwhile, keep safe and feel free to publicise the date amongst your dancing associates. Oh, and I’ve discovered that staring at multi-coloured spread sheets can have a numbing effect on the brain, so if I have your ticket status wrong despite multiple checking, please do let me know….. Best wishes Monty Crook May Heydays Ticketing

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May Heydays update
by Attendees to MayHeydays 2020 04 Apr '20

04 Apr '20

Dear Supporters You are such lovely people, we have had so many mails of support, generosity and appreciation over the last couple of weeks that it annihilates the one very problematic one. We have now completed processing the first round of responses, from 148 ‘attendees’, and have recorded 67 ticket rollovers and made 81 ticket refunds (with 3 more awaiting bank info). That leaves 93 of you from whom we haven’t actually heard; if you have not done so, please do confirm if you would like a refund or to roll your money over to next year – and in either case whether you would be happy to donate 5% to help defray this year’s expenses. If electing for a refund please let me have (by phone if you wish) your bank sort code, account number and the precise name on the account. Further responses will be processed batch-wise after a bit of a break from the laptop! During the course of this some of you spotted that you had been unsubscribed from the 2020 attendees email list. Be assured this was an error on my part whilst trying to develop an initial attendee list for 2021 (during a slack moment?); all have now been restored through use of a back-up (thanks to Alain Williams). The list will remain whilst we may have need specifically to contact attendees, and will then be deleted and the draft 2021 list (of roll-overs) used instead. You will all, however, stay on the list of our ongoing supporters unless you unsubscribe yourselves or ask to be taken off (or, I do something silly again!). Keep safe. Monty – Ticketing 01308 423 442 Monty and I are now planning some time off May Heydays. Believe it or not, we can actually find other things to do during ‘lockdown’ ;-). As to the next programme, my plan was to keep the 2021 programme I already had lined up and ask 2020 performers back for 2022. Other festivals, however, have decided to move their 2020 programme forward a year, which will cause clashes in programming. Therefore, I will talk with all my 2021/ 2022 performers and we’ll probably end up with a programme that combines the 2 years, avoiding those acts that would clash or have other commitments. For example, Geoff Cubitt and Colin Hume will be calling at Chippenham next year, so we have agreed they’ll come to Evesham in 2022. However, Carol Ormand is due over again next year, so her 2020 programme can be pushed forward to 2021. As the second main caller I have now booked Andrew Swaine. More will be added in due course. Watch the website and Facebook page for further updates on our 2021 line-up. We are still receiving entries for our dance writing competition and we have extended the deadline for now. We’ll let you know as soon as we know when and how these dances will be judged. Opinions in the committee are split whether it should be done away from the festival or whether we should wait until next year. We’ll see. Stay well. Mecki - Director

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A question of refunds
by Attendees to MayHeydays 2020 26 Mar '20

26 Mar '20

Dear May Heydays Hopefuls We have been given the friendly advice that it is not legal to do other than make a full refund of ticket price paid under the circumstances in which we now find ourselves with the festival. Further, that the wording of our mail to those whom we have already refunded could have been clearer, by inviting our supporters to contribute to the irrecoverable costs and agree a reduced amount, rather than just deducting a sum. (For your information, that sum was about 5% of the ticket price paid). We did signal in our 17th March general announcement to all our supporters that we would act to cover any losses incurred for 2020 and how we would do it: Please give us a couple of weeks to consult with everyone who may have incurred costs on our behalf. Most of our suppliers/performers/the school will not charge us anything at all, so the total of incurred costs we will need to recover will be quite minor in the great scheme of things. Once we know what our total cost is for 2020, we will apportion this cost to all ticket holders (except, for those paying via WeGotTickets, where we will not be able to make any such retention). No-one at that time came back to us to say it would be unacceptable to them in particular or to our wider community in general. In our mail to those already refunded we have said: We hope you find all this acceptable and we thank you for your support for all that the committee has sought to achieve this year - which has elicited the one mail we have received pointing out the legal position. We are therefore perhaps guilty of taking for granted the generosity of the folk dance community. In the circumstances we will hold off making refunds at the moment to the small number of people whose requests are yet to be actioned and we now ask for wider feedback on the matter – especially as we would have deducted 5% from those rolling over their monies to next year (where a top-up would be required in any case for the full Monday programme). Also, anyone who has been refunded at a reduced level but would like the full amount should not hesitate to contact me. We are naturally sorry if we have caused any upset or offence by our actions. We are but a small band of volunteers trying to keep what has been a great festival going, at a new location/venue and under new management – and under trying conditions. We are not and have no wish to be a commercial, profit-making organisation, but feel we owe it to ourselves and our dancing community not to accumulate losses. With best wishes to you for your continuing good health. Mecki Testroet Director

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May Heydays - Policy and Guidlenes
by Attendees to MayHeydays 2020 09 Mar '20

09 Mar '20

Dear 2020 Attendees Apologies for a second note; the previous one used the wrong addressee list so therefore had the text and attachment intended for performers - essentially the same but with a slightly different emphasis, so no real harm done! (I blame the virus!!). Please see the attached with respect to our plans and contingencies for the Festival. If you are unable to download/read the attached we will also be putting this on the website & Facebook. Regards Mecki Festival Director 01308 423 442

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May Heydays and the Virus - Policy and Guidelines
by Attendees to MayHeydays 2020 09 Mar '20

09 Mar '20

Dear One and All You are receiving this since you are on our list of May Heydays 2020 Performers or Sound Crew. Apologies if you get versions twice - which may mean you appear on more than one of our distribution lists. If you are the key contact for your group, please pass it on to the rest of your 'crew'. At the moment we are in a wait-and-see mode with the assumption we will be able to go ahead in 2020. The attached document shows the position we have adopted in the unfortunate event that we are forced to put off the festival and also the guidelines we will ask people to follow if we can proceed. Do let us have any comments. Regards Mecki Director 01308 423 442

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