For various reasons I've not been active on Mudcat for a few weeks, but I thought I'd just add a personal comment on a question that's cropped up here and there on this thread: Why did no-one take up the reigns of the highly successful weekly, Royal Oak Club in Lewes, after the retirement of Vic and Tina Smith?

When I heard the news that Vic and Tina were bowing out at the Royal Oak, I considered having a serious shot at running it - perhaps not in quite the same way as it had been run by Vic and Tina, as we all have our own views on how things should be done - but certainly with a view to keeping it going. I felt it was a great shame that such a successful club, with a number of good residents and an excellent reputation in the folk world, should just close. I had had experience of running clubs in the past, for example the BBC Folk Club (Clanfolk) back in the '60s. Having thought hard about it, I did three things:

(1) I set down on paper my own thoughts on how to keep it going and what I felt would be needed
(2) I contacted - and was coincidentally contacted - by two or three like-minded friends in the area
(3) I spoke at some length to Vic and Tina about the whole situation

Without going into details about my conversation with Vic and Tina, suffice to say that they were both very supportive of the idea, had a great of sympathy with many of my own thoughts, and had a huge amount of excellent advice for me on lots of practical procedures. They also gave me some insight into their own "succession planning" and how, for various reasons, it had not turned out as they had expected. So far, so good.

Armed with this data, I had more detailed conversations with the people who had indicated that they might like to be involved. It very soon transpired that, although there was a great deal of theoretical interest, there was - for various quite understandable reasons - a reluctance on the part of those same people to commit time and energy on a regular basis. In effect, it would have been virtually a one-man band - with me as the band. Quite simply, I couldn't do it on my own. None of the people involved, including myself, lived in Lewes, making publicity (and even travel in some winter conditions) a difficult task. None of the people involved could commit to a regular routine. None of us was getting any younger - I'm just a few months younger than Vic and reach my "threescore years and ten" very shortly.

Ironically, and without wishing to blow our own trumpets, those of us who had contemplated getting the club up and going again also had good performing and musical skills - I say "ironically", because, in the end, that was probably the crucial factor in not being able to commit to the club. We were just too busy gigging and doing our own things in performance to be able to spare the extra time needed to run the Royal Oak club. For example, I play jazz and ragtime in one duo, music hall and instrumental music in another, and play regularly in a ceilidh band. I help Stu Reed to run the monthly Brighton Acoustic Session, and I run my own monthly session/singaround in my local Sussex village. All of this as well as participating in other local sessions and musical events.

In hindsight perhaps it was just wishful thinking on my part to have contemplated taking on the burden in the first place - but I felt genuinely sad that the club had folded, and still do.