Hi Teller, We up here at the Ugie Folk Club couldn't be much further from yourselves, geographically speaking but have suffered similar problems in the past. Originally we met 3rd Friday of each month in a nearby village. Like you, if we had anything special, we could expect a decent turn out but club nights were dead. We had a circle/session format and we were just playing & singing to each other really. We decided that it must be the venue and moved to another village 4 miles away. Similar schedule and format, the club nights were well attended to start with but within a year had tailed off to very few turning up. I am speaking about audiences here rather than players/singers although the numbers of those did reduce too. You would be forgiven for thinking maybe it was the artists who were crap and not worth coming out to see. I honestly don't think that, as many of them were/are frequently asked to appear at concerts and other folk clubs in the area. It must be the venue (the committee decided again) so we moved to yet another village this time about 8 miles away. However we spoke it through prior to our move and decided to try some changes in how the folk culb held it's club nights. First we decided to change to the 1st Friday in the month as some people had said that the 3rd was too difficult to remember!!!! Secondly we changed from the session/circle format to doing floor sets. Since moving we are playing to a packed house each month. Also we are attracting more and more artists from round about who never came near us before. I don't say that it's any one thing that made the difference but perhaps a combination of some or all. I think that the audience prefer to be entertained rather than sitting in on a musician's circle. In these circumstances I would rather sing and play to a listening audience rather than compete with all and sundry in a circle. I don't know of many songs written for 6 guitars, 3 whistles, a fiddle, accordian, 2 bodhrans etc. etc. Sorry this is long winded, but I know how frustrating it gets. Hope this may be of some interest to you and good luck. PS Ugie Folk Club Muckle Mingle Festival 1999 is this weekend. All welcome.