Freda Welton, of Heywoods Road, Teignmouth, Teignmouth Drama Festival secretary, writes:

By writing this letter I would like to clear up a current misconception which appears to be entertained by some members of the public and councillors.

The prestigious and successful presentation of the British All Winners Festival was organised by the Teignmouth Drama Festival Committee, which consists of six members and every year in March presents the Teignmouth Drama Festival.

The drama festival committee is completely autonomous and is not part of the Teignmouth Players, and is a member of both the All England Theatre Festival and the National Drama Festivals Association. We have no premises and therefore need to hire the Carlton Theatre for our festival, and pay the current hire charge from our proceeds.

Teignmouth Players do, indeed, help greatly, including front of house and hosting teams backstage, but this is done on a voluntary basis by individual members. Any charges for electrician or technical help is borne by us.

Teignmouth Town Council gave us a grant towards the hire of the theatre for the British All Winners as this was a once in a lifetime opportunity to host this national event in Devon. Many local businesses would have benefited as many people stayed here for the week, and many more for two, three, or four days.

I hope the above will help to clarify the relationship between the festival committee and the Teignmouth Players which is harmonious and helpful.

I would, on behalf of the festival committee, like to take this opportunity of thanking the council, individual councillors and the many businesses and local individuals in the town who either took advertisement space in our programme or sponsored us in other ways, all of which helped to make the event very succcessful.