Janet Davidson and her committee who organise the festival service say they are angry and distressed that the new director, Peter Bolton, has banished the service to a slot outside the festival programme and relegated it to the 'other events' section in the festival brochure.

"It is disastrous. We are very distressed," Mrs Davidson declared. "We have been totally sidelined. The service is THE event of the festival which involves all local people.

"The Petworth Festival started that way but because it has grown so big and expensive, apart from two things everyone else is a professional from outside.

"I had countless phone discussions with Mr Bolton but he wanted a big explosion of culture in the square on the first day, which is in effect a free concert. But it doesn't start until 8pm and we could have held the service before that.

"Instead we have been forced to have it two days earlier on June 5, when the festival doesn't open until June 7."

The service, being held at St Mary's Church, involves members of 14 local churches of all denominations, their combined choirs, young singers from the Herbert Shiner intermediate school, Petworth Town Band and a new anthem composed specially by Terence Allbright, a former director of the festival.

It will be followed by the customary reception, and there will be a collection for the Help for Heroes charity for servicemen and women wounded in the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts.

Mrs Davidson, who has been associated with the festival since it began in 1978, said: "Because the service is not included in the festival dates, we have not been able to use any of the massive amounts of money coming in through sponsorship.

"We are having to pay for the band ourselves although the festival is going to print the orders of service for us."

And she declared: "There are still people on the festival committee who do know about us and they know that next year the service must be reinstated as part of the festival dates. Mr Bolton has been told in no uncertain terms that he has to think differently next year."

The new director was selected from a shortlist of five applicants last autumn, to succeed Michael Follis who lives in Petworth and was in the job for seven years.

Mr Bolton lives at Winchester and is a development consultant for the British Arts Festival Association.

He told the Observer: "I wanted the first thing people to see was something they felt they could get involved with and a church service is not necessarily the way to do that.

"I felt we should be trying to appeal to a cross-section of Petworth people who have never been involved before.

"If you were an 18-year-old and wanted to go to the festival, I am not sure a church service is the thing to open with.

"But it is not my intention to sideline the service – you can have a service which celebrates the fact there is a festival coming."

However, he acknowledged: "Perhaps I have not been as aware of local issues as I would be if I lived in the town.

"There has been a lot to take on board.

"We have to go back and have another look at this, and make sure everyone is happy in the future."


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