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