Without re-hashing the old and unresolvable "what is folk?" debate, I don't doubt that all this new music will fall within the compass of "folk" in its widest sense. However it is legitimate to ask whether EFDSS should be championing that wide sense or should be more focussed on English traditional music.

I have been involved in folk music for more than 45 years, and during that time EFDSS has reinvented itself several times. When I started out it was mainly interested in dance, in its current incarnation it now presents itself as an arts organisation and seems to be mainly interested in promoting professional musicians and educators.

Throughout all that time the EFDSS has seemed to have little relevance to the folk music I am involved in, playing in folk clubs, sessions and ceilidhs. It seems to have little interest in, and offers little support to, grass-roots folk.

The direction the EFDSS takes is of course a matter for its members. Where I think it has a problem is that large numbers of people involved in folk aren't members and don't find the Society is relevant to them. It should be automatic for anyone interested in English folk to become a member, but many of the people I know are not, and those that are often join only for the insurance or to support the Library, rather than because it offers them anything.