I love hot weather. I spend a lot of time complaining when it's cold and wet, so I reckon you can't moan when it's warm and sunny. Me, personally, that is.

As the person who runs two venues in the town, I can't wait for it to cloud over, cool down, and generally for polar bears to start roaming on Pitchcroft.

Hot weather is definitely not good for selling tickets, especially given the lack of air-conditioning at both the Swan and the Hall. Still, look on the bright side - we make no extra charge for the sauna.

One of the things that I spend a lot of time doing is trying to raise money. When people give it to us, ideally it is for 'revenue' funding, which means that it is not tied to a specific project.

However, we always supply potential funders with a shopping list of various projects they could fund, and they sometimes choose.

So I am delighted that the Saintbury Trust has given us the money to put in a sprung floor in our Studio. At the moment, it is a solid concrete floor with just a thin covering of lino, not good for the youth drama groups that use it, and absolutely hopeless for dancing.

Now, we shall be able to stage dance workshops and do drama with far more freedom than ever before. Fantastic!

And finally, dig out you Festival brochure and start booking for things in August. You know you want to, and lots of things will sell out! Book early to avoid disappointment, as they say.