This would be the tenth year of the festival so I wanted to push the boat out a bit. I considered making it the biggest ever with more interviews than any previous year, but that seemed foolhardy. I also considered switching it so that the guests interviewed me instead, asking me about various aspects of the first 10 years of Millennial Woes, but that seemed indulgent and, in any case, not what people expect from Millenniyule.

I talked with a friend about marking the anniversary, and he suggested doing group hangouts instead of the usual one-to-one interviews. I balked at the idea of completely changing the format, but realised that it could solve the perennial problem of the pace change after Christmas Day. Thus was born the idea for the banquets. These were the innovation this year, and they were very popular so will become, like the Christmas Cards stream, a mainstay of the festival.

Zorchwave offered to make high-level CGI, and after some cogitation I accepted. It was a difficult decision because I would prefer that Millenniyule was wholly my own creation, but the anniversary seemed to justify an exception. In any case, I was concerned that the burden of all the work was getting too much for me on my own. This turned out to be a good decision since, just a couple of days after I accepted his offer, a close family bereavement occurred, meaning that I couldn’t work for most of September.

The previous year I had made a list of everything that needed to be done, with deadlines. This made preparation this year less stressful, because I knew what to prioritise. I also resolved to get everything done well in advance of when it needed to be done, and I succeeded with everything except the trailer, which was only finished on the day it was broadcast.

One thing I was determined to do this year was a “countdown clock” video, since in previous years for various reasons I hadn’t managed it. This year’s would be extra important, doubling as a retrospective of the festival’s history. I got it done early, before almost everything else, and I think it turned out well.

One other change this year was the restoration of the dedicated Twitter account, which happened in July. This account was used, like the equivalent Telegram channel, to deliver more detailed info than the casual viewer might want.

The festival was a great success. I think people really missed the cosy locomotive aesthetic of 2023, but apart from that, the atmosphere throughout was warm and the spirits high. The festival seemed to go by very fast this year, and I think many people joined me in lamenting when it had to end.

Highlights: Staffordshire Folklore Hearthfire Radio Steve Laws Alexander Adams The Distributist Aarvoll Josh Neal

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