Captain, it certainly did that. But I believe the revival has also re-invigorated the tradition.

When Cecil Sharp was collecting songs, tunes and dances a century ago he thought he was recording the dying throes of a moribund tradition. If he were to return today he would be astonished at the amount of music and song, the proliferation of morris sides, and the number of social dances taking place every weekend. Admittedly, it's opened up to different styles and influences, but there is also continuity with the old tradition.

There is now a thriving tradition of music and dance taking place within the community, for people's own entertainment rather than as a commercial event. It's a different sort of community than it once was, but that's also true of most areas of modern life.

True, it's no longer part of most people's lives the way it once was, the majority of people look elsewhere for their entertainment. But even outside the folk community, most people will have come across a music or song session in a pub, seen the morris dancers in their High Street, or danced at a PTA or wedding ceilidh.