DESPITE the success of this year's Chippenham Folk Festival its organisers feel it has yet to realise its full potential.

The festival, which took place over the bank holiday weekend, saw folk fans flock to the town in their thousands. It is estimated 10,000 people came on Monday alone.

Visitors sampled over 200 events including song, dance and displays in the festival's 32nd year.

The festival, sponsored for a fifth year running by Chippenham firm Wavin Plastics, featured 53 music acts from throughout the UK and Europe. Musicians, dancers and groups performing during the weekend paraded through the High Street on Saturday and Monday.

Monday also saw a street fair with crafts for sale and a host of stalls were open all weekend. The younger generation were also catered for with a special youth festival.

Young people from 11 to 19 were offered a diverse selection of traditional arts to participate in and small children were treated to a programme of story telling.

Bob Berry, spokesman for the organising committee, said they now want businesses and townspeople to get 100 per cent behind the festival.

Mr Berry said: "The festival is a Mecca for legions of people who tour the national festival circuit but every year, despite its popularity, the team involved in arranging it has to literally keep its fingers crossed to see if we can cover our costs."

Around 60 per cent of festival costs are covered by season tickets and ticket sales for the concerts. The remaining 40 per cent is made up from concessions and donations.

The 35-strong committee spent about £85,000 arranging the festival, but only collected £2,500 in donations during the festival.

Mr Berry said: "Of course there are people and organisations who are very generous. Wavin give us so much for no real gain and we do receive a statutory donation, but it isn't much.

"We're not just asking for people to put their hands in their pockets, although we do need more donations. More than that we are looking for local people who can offer services and practical help, to make the festival even better.

"We are aware of other festivals which have taken the gamble, gone out on a limb and stretched themselves financially. But this has resulted in some of them going to the wall and we don't want to risk that.

"It's a shame though, because there is so much more that we could do, which would ultimately benefit everyone in the town, by bringing in more visitors."