I don't think I've watched the Evesham festival for close on 15 years, though I attended from the mid 80s through till about 2004. The days of big crowds are long gone and the fishing is dire. It was hard enough back in the early 90s when I had a go at qualifying - team and individual - I can remember coming 10th with 3-15 out of 120 and the following week 4th with 6-4 out of 80 - the prolific days were gone by then.
I have fond memories of watching Steve Canty framing one year and winning the next and plenty of double-figure weights. The crowds have been far less than those claimed for many years - I can remember it being 4 deep all along the full length and you'd struggle to even see someone like Ivan Marks such was the crowd behind him - not many years ago it was claimed 25,000 still watched but a look at the video showed one or two spectators per angler so, even adding in those in the angling village, less than 1,000.