Weekly for a singaround/session works for us. It was described by an Irish friend of mine as being something like a cross between playing in someone's front room and a session in a pub.

As long as you have a core of people who will turn up and who will enjoy themselves regardless of whether anyone else turns up or not then it will work. We have a basic core of about 7 people who turn up pretty much every week (6 of whom sing; 1 fiddle player; 1 guitarist) - and then a further 6-10 who come frequently and a further 10-20 who come less frequently.

With people who come out for the evening to have a drink and a listen we currently get 20-40 people come every week and it seems to be growing. People seem to enjoy it and come back and travel from some distance in some cases.

We do no publicity and it takes no organisation purely relying on word of mouth. We turn up each week not knowing (or caring) who will turn up as whoever does turn up will have a play.

The advantage of weekly is that people who come once always know it will be on so can turn up with certainty; it has a set format so you can turn up knowing that you will get a go if you want one and won't pick a guest night having travelled.