Still as snide as ever I see
I was involved in the clubs up to twelve years ago, when we moved here.
The clubs we halped run were reasonably successful - the Singers only closed after the death of Ewan, and Peggy's move back to America - (perhaps you'd like to take that up with her).
Not coincidentally, all the clubs were policy clubs so the audiences who turned up knew what they were going to get - and we didn't lower the standard by encouraging people who couldn't sing to perform in public, by making the basic crierion that they want to sing - whether they could manage to handle a tune or not - we gave them a workshop to help them develop.
"I don't think we're doing too badly."
Even my limited experience, and the discussion on this forum pesuades me that the case is different - unless your life doesn't extend beyong the boundaries of Lewes.
"a complaint to Joe or even a civil case for slander."
Please feel free - you started this in your customary unpleasant way, and you continue it equally unpleasantly.   
"Count yourself lucky."
Nothing to do with luck - knowing what your music is and focusing on it has worked wonders.
"Don't get too smug. In the present economic climate, that funding could disappear in a moment"
It could indeed, but the fact that thousands of youngsters have joined the scene and are playing well leaves us with a fair chance that it will survive in good health for at least another generation - it's no longer about money, if it ever was. The people who put in the work did so from scratch when Irish music was being sneered at on the media as 'diddly-di' music.
Everything that has been gained here has been hard fought for.
Jim Carroll