PROTESTERS have started a Facebook campaign to ditch the Chatteris Historic Festival.

Nearly 250 people have signed up to the group “I HATED CHATTERIS FESTIVAL WEEKEND - Bring back the olde one” on the social networking site.

Rebecca Anderson, who started the group, has arranged meetings to discuss how residents can rise up and tell the organisers they don’t like its medieval theme.

She said: “I am in no way suggesting people have not put in their hard work or effort. We simply don’t like it and want something else.”

Complaining she wasn’t invited to official meetings to plan the event, Ms Anderson said that without her Facebook campaign “we wouldn’t have got heard any other way”.

The campaign group will come as a blow to organisers at Chatteris Town Council and Fenland District Council, who had hailed the three-day festival in June as the town’s most successful ever.

The Mayor of Chatteris, Councillor Peter Murphy, said the colourful displays, Vikings drama shows and school activities involving 500 children had made it a “memorable event for Chatteris”.

Mike Chapman, events manager at Fenland Council, said there had been “lots of positive responses” after a record 4,000 people turned out for the celebrations.

However, comments on the Facebook page include “I preferred the old style, it just seemed to be more diverse and of interest to people” and “I was very disappointed, it was nothing like any of the old ones”.

Resident Bea Bullock said: “If you were not into history, there was nothing else of much interest.”

Joseph Canham said: “I did not go because I thought there was nothing of interest to people in Chatteris.”