OK - just to give this subject a bit of a bump!

In spite of my silence, The Storrington Gathering is still planned for the 14/15 June 2008 weekend, and I am still gathering information to help make it the success I want it to be.

However, I may have run into a situation which, if confirmed, could become a major problem. I have just been advised that accommodation of virtually any sort in this vicinity will be impossible to find if the dates clash with those of the world-famous Goodwood Festival of Speed, which takes place annually in June. Most of the B&Bs I have been speaking with tell me that they do not accept bookings for June until the Festival of Speed dates are announced, and then they take no bookings for that weekend other than from people who have stayed with them previously for the Festival. I am getting similar messages from small hotels also.

I have contacted the Festival organisers to check the dates of their event, but they will not divulge them until the official launch of the 2008 Festival of Speed - and that will be sometime next month (October).

So, dear friends, please keep your fingers crossed that the 150,000 Festival of Speed attendees do not want accommodation the same weekend as us - 14/15 June, 2008.

I'll be ba-a-ack!