I SPENT two whole days wandering around the recent Darwen Music Festival. From the main stage to the smallest venue, my wife and I were amazed at the variety of types of music we heard.

Granted, not all was to our taste, but all were excellent in their own right.

What amazed us was not only the variety of musicians but the variety of viewers -- old, young, babies, bikers and hippies, lads of 17 causing a bit of bother, grandmums and guitarists, dogs on a string and children in arms, middle-aged couples hand-in-hand and short-skirted girlies giggling in the corner.

And there was something for everyone. In these days of litigation and apparent misery, I take my hat off to the council and to those faceless organisers who must have put in a lot of work to get the whole thing off the ground.

Well done, Darwen. Here's to next year -- I'll certainly be back.

CHRIS DAVIES, Nicholas Street, Darwen.