Sidmouth Chamber of Commerce has held another of its regular and well attended monthly Zoom breakfast meetings, which are open to anyone from the community to attend. The President of the Chamber, Richard Eley, has provided this report of the meeting.

Unsurprisingly, as vaccination proceeds apace, and businesses begin to open in anticipation of a busy summer, the mood was upbeat.

The meeting received a number of brief presentations from several groups who are organising festivals in Sidmouth over the coming months. John Radford, who pops up in several guises within the events world, explained his latest proposal for Connaught at Christmas, an ambitious plan to illuminate the gardens in the run up to Christmas, accompanied by a marquee offering a variety of products, food and drink on the Manor Road car park.

Colin Trussell and John Braithwaite outlined their hopes for a slimmed-down version of the Folk Festival this year, and Ian Bowden gave further details of his ambitious four-day Jazz and Blues Festival scheduled for June next year, to coincide with the Queen's Platinum Jubilee. The Jubilee will once again be marked by a now traditional Street Party, organised by the Chamber, in the Market Square and surrounding streets.

Meanwhile, the Chamber under the excellent leadership of Mike Lavers, expects to host its very popular Classic Car Show on the Cricket Field on September 18th. Slightly smaller than in previous years due to the proximity issues arising from Covid, the Show will still attract around 300 cars, and the standard will no doubt be as impressive as ever.

The Science Festival, represented by Chris Lockyear, rapidly becoming an important fixture of the Sidmouth calendar, will be with us as usual in October, with its incredibly diverse selection of talks and events for the cerebral and inquiring amongst us.

Sadly, Seafest, led by Louise Cole, is cancelled for this year, but is all set to start to come back with an improved programme next year.

The big news was delivered by Town Clerk, Chris Holland, who announced that the Red Arrows will be back to Sidmouth again after a two-year absence.

Overall, the feeling was very strong that Sidmouth is really succeeding in providing a rich variety of entertainment throughout the year and to meet all tastes.