I've had 40-odd years of Folk Clubs - when I first started (late 60's in West London, clubs tended to have headline guests 3 weeks out of 4, and only their residents tended to get a spot otherwise (how I first came across Don Shepherd, at Hammersmith). I wouldn't have dared to get up and sing then; indeed it was not until I came down to ChipSod that I found clubs which were much more encouraging in allowing me to get started. Some would argue that I don't do folk anyway but all I know is that my songs don't fit anywhere else but in an acoustic - and predominately folk setting (club or festival session). There is no shortage of clubs within driving distance for me - Devizes or Bristol (The Nova Scotia)Monday; Bradford on Avon Tuesday, Highworth every other Wednesday, Corsham or Minchinhampton Thursday, Swindon or Shortwood Friday; a bit further afield the Litton club thrives on a
Wednesday. Every one of these venues has a genuine vibe of its own which I am sure comes to a great extent from those who organise and sustain the clubs. Maybe its our area but I have never experienced anything less than a welcome, nor has anyone ever suggested that my songs are out of place because of some strict definition of what music is permissible in the context of a particular club.

I am not a professional performer, but I enjoy doing a couple of songs of an evening. I don't find it onerous to listen to other people who fall into the same category. I reckon a number of small clubs (limited by the size of the venue as much as anything) do struggle to survive because they are dependent on their weekly singaround takings to subsidise the occasional "name" guest nights. It's a 65 mile round trip for me to get to Devizes but to me its a club well worth supporting for the quality of its regulars (best choruses around) and the calibre of its guests.   I feel if I am going there for guest nights I should be putting something back in by attending other times as well. There are always times when attendances dip, for no obvious reason, and it is surely the weekly regulars who keep the clubs going, not those who simply go along on guest nights.

Folk clubs do come and go - we had a club which was struggling but at least ticking along but then ... they put a full-size snooker table in the middle of the room. No loss of interest in the music, just a lot of bad backs from having to crouch down in order to see past the gigantic suspended light ...

The better attended clubs, around here at least, may well offer a much wider spread of acoustic music than the old folk club, but folk is still the major element in the music on offer week in week out. No-one is being driven away by (a) the wrong sort of music or (b) poor quality performers of whatever ilk. It's when there is an perceived policy of exclusion for either category that numbers decline and may well lead to collapse.

It always surprises me when "folkies" appear to demand to be entertained to the highest standards of professionalism every minute of their deigning to attend a club ... this is not an attitude I have encountered amongst the pros themselves, who show interest and offer encouragement to many of the floor singers they encounter - they know what clubs survive and thrive on.