A commitee has been formed to oversee next year's Old Town Festival and avoid the problems which dogged this year's event.

At a planning meeting last week, attended by more than 20 Old Town residents and representatives of community groups, it was agreed that the festival should go ahead and a 12-strong committee was formed with Coun Maurice Fann-ing (Lab Gorse Hill and Pinehurst) as chairman.

It was agreed that the festival should be held over a week, culminating on the weekend of July 7 and 8.

Committee member Brian Bridgeman, who represents the Swindon Society, said: "It was a well attended meeting. We have not drawn up any of the plans in detail, but we will be discussing that at our next meeting."

He added that the 11th festival will no longer be a Victorian festival, but rather will be titled Old Town, Past, Present and Future.

"As well as representing the past, we are also looking forward to the future of Swindon and the new title reflects that.

"I am quite encouraged by the way things went at the first meeting. We have started organising things in good time rather than leaving things to the last minute, so I am optimistic about how the festival is going to go."

To promote the event and encourage more groups to take part, the committee agreed that the festival should have its first ever website.

This year's festival, the 10th, was a flop because of a lack of public support. The usual three-day extravaganza was scaled down to a four-hour event in the courtyard of Fusion Bar.

Since its launch in 1991, the event grew in popularity with crowds of more than 20,000 in 1997.

But the organising committee disbanded in 1998 and the festival faced a large cash shortfall.

The long-term future of the festival was thrown into doubt but a new committee was formed and £9,000 raised by an Evening Adver-tiser campaign to enable it to continue.

The next meeting of the committee will be on at 7pm Thursday, December 7 at the Kings Arms in Wood Street. Members of the public are welcome to attend.

Anyone with ideas for events, offers of help or queries can contact Brian Bridgeman on 01793 521408.