I have just returned from a lovely trip to Sidmouth where I had the pleasure of attending the start of another amazingly entertaining FolkWeek.

This event has to be up there with the best.

Here we have an unique week-long seaside celebration of music, dance and song taking place in the charming East Devon regency coastal resort.

This event attracts tens of thousands of visitors to over 700 diverse events with a broad ‘something for everyone’ appeal.

With an ear to the past and an eye on the future, the festival features established stars and emerging talent. Major concerts and small intimate sessions, folk dancing and storytelling –  brilliant fun family entertainment.

Personally, the highlight for me was a lady that many of you would remember, Pam Ayres. Yes – a blast from the past who can still draw a sell out crowd. After all these years Pam can still deliver new hilariously funny stories and poems that many of today’s new acts can only dream of.

The town’s streets and venues were bursting with a festive atmosphere as holidaymakers and festival goers join together in the friendliest music-based holiday of the summer.

When we have a heat wave that’s so sizzling you see chickens laying fried eggs on the pavement, I wonder “What is the point of wearing a tie?”

Or, as our American cousins call it . . . ‘the neck tie’.

Because it’s the most pointless, useless item of clothing known to man – and when the weather is sweltering it’s also the most annoying.

I don’t often wear them, but there are occasions other than weddings and funerals when I’m expected to dress formerly – which means a collar and tie.  Oh, and trousers.  I don’t want to be arrested for that again.  And if the venue is hot, I get bothered.

The sole purpose of a tie is to act as a barrier against soup, curry and red wine staining a man’s shirt.

Ties can also cause family rifts.

One Christmas my mother bought me a red tie and a blue tie. I went upstairs to get dressed and came down wearing the red one.  My mother glared at me and said “So . . . what’s wrong with the other one?”