The first folk club I went to was the Jog of Punch in Ellesmere Port in around '64. It was run by 2 or 3 lads from various parts of merseyside.

Guests were mostly locals who ran other clubs, The Black Diamonds fron Chester, Pete McGovern from Liverpool. The main thing was access. By that time I had seen the Beatles and the Stones and dizens of Merseybeat groups and knew I couldn't plat that music. Everybody was really encouraged to sing at Folk Clubs.

I don't suppose we can ever re-capture the joy and fascination of a whole genre of songs and music to which we were suddenly exposed.

I liked the post about the lack of youth. The semi-pro end of folk youth are amazing. Perhaps we have to go extinct before new youth can re-discover and evolve folk performance for themselves.