Sticking with the folk music (there are plenty of young bands round here but I suspect that they are more interested in the money side of things) the situation in my part of North West Wales is a lot better now than when I started getting involved as an 18 year old in 1978.

I have always enjoyed playing and singing but doing this on your own is not much fun and I think it is much nicer to be playing with others.

It wasn't until 1981 that a folk club really got established (or more accurately, re-established) in my immediate Llandudno area and at the time of the younger ones, there was me and Anwen who is about 4 years younger than myself who played round here for a couple of years before moving to Manchester.

At that time, nearly ever other "folkie" in the area was at least 40 and there was very little played except guitar and a few 5 string banjo tunes.

I was always interested in the dance music (there was a local Morris side that I belonged to but I wanted the livelier stuff) and even though I subsequently (about 6 years later) found out that there was a session aout 20 miles down the road, you were basicaly on your own if you wanted to do anything different and learning was difficult as the older ones were unhelpful. Anwen was luckier on this than me as she was a very actractive female, the older males would spend a lot of time with her but all I could get from the same people was a very rushed 2 seconds worth of "that's how its done" if I asked a question and as a result, just about everything I learned was self taught with the help of books and tapes.

The situation is certainly not brilliant around Llandudno now but the interest has increased and there are now people in the area who are willing to help and I went to a small session last week which included a 16 year old flute player and 2 fiddle players who I would guess are less than 10 years old (as well as people older than myself who are relatively new to the music) and we all sat down together and played for simple enjoyment.

Considering it is 1999, this is a very small step forward but round here, any progress has to be classed as a major achievement.

Jon

PS I recently had a conversation about starting up a group (not looking for "real" money but as another outlet for playing). If it does happen, the line up will be me (39, tenor banjo, mandolin, melodeon and guitar, and a bit of harmony vocals), Jay (26, fiddle), Ceri (16, flute) and we are hoping Anwen (35, anglo concertina, melodeon, guitar and excellent vocals) who has moved back to this area will make up the forth member.