THE four events which occurred simultaneously on June 22 may have 'drawn more people into the town' and may have benefited the farmer's market and the community fair. However, the quadruple booking was of no benefit at all to the Tavistock Group of Artists, whose 47th annual exhibition opened that day in the town hall.

In particular, the presence of Devon Fire and Rescue Service with their chip pan fire demonstration seems to have been a real deterrent for visitors to the exhibition.

This was partly because a large part of the Square near the entrance to the town hall was roped off for security, and partly because of the unpleasant smell which accompanied the demonstrations for most of the day.

Whatever the reasons, the TGA suffered a dramatic drop in visitors and in sales on the most important first Saturday of their show.

Since the hire of the town hall is exorbitant and since the TGA is dependent on their annual sales in order to be able to pay for the hire of this hall, it seems unfortunate that all these other activities did not benefit the group at all.

Perhaps in future it will be possible to organise such events more carefully, so that all may benefit and none will be penalised.

D J Stirland

Treasurer

Tavistock Group of Artists