May I, through your paper, thank everyone who made the Colchester Oyster Festival such a huge success.

Particularly my fellow Snake in the Grass director, Terry Croucher, who always seems to miss the praise he deserves for all his selfless hard work for the town.

Thanks also to Zephyr Security, who gave all the security staff and made the event safe and possible.

Thanks to all the bands and acts, who worked for nothing, as did all the staff and our team – they were magnificent.

We set out to prove the town could pull together and create an event virtually without any money, but built on goodwill and a desire to better our town. It worked.

We wanted to have an event where people decided what they wanted, rather than being dictated to by the local glitterati. We made a start, but we want more.

This town has a huge, untapped well of talent, we have Britain’s most beautiful park and the world’s best oysters.

Put that together and the future for the Colchester Oyster Festival looks very bright indeed.

If anyone has some good ideas for next year, we would love to hear them.

Don Quinn
King Stephen Road
Colchester