Overall I think the state of folk in the UK is currently pretty healthy. There are plenty of young people getting involved, and the standard of musicianship is higher than ever before. There are lots of festivals, concerts and house concerts.

Ceilidhs are doing pretty well, both inside and outside the folk scene, and there is considerable interest in other forms of dance such as Eurobal. Morris is thriving, in the sense that there are lots of sides, although I think the standard in many cases is disappointing. The older-style dance clubs may be dying out, literally, but that is perhaps to be expected. Music sessions are popular and again the standard is often high.

The only problem area is the folk club. It occurs to me that those that are succeeding are those which still follow the old model of offering frequent professional guests and which maintain a high standard of floor-singers. Unfortunately many clubs do not follow this model. I am unsure whether it is an unwillingness to take the financial risk or because of the difficulty of building up a base of competent resident performers to underpin it.

Perhaps this isn't really a problem and is simply the inevitable decline of one format which no longer meet's audiences' needs and is being replaced as the new generation goes its own way.