You can indeed change the landscape and start a session. Like Will and Bryan above, I did this successfully when I lived in Worthing in Sussex, and although I left the area 8 years ago, the session I started still continues there, which to my mind means I must have done something right.

Here in Devon I tried again to set up a session that wouldn't require me to drive very far. We tried three different venues before finding one where a session really worked, but it all came right in the end, and it's now an established part of the local folk scene.

One good thing about setting up a session yourself is that you not only get to choose the venue and the frequency, you can decide (to some extent) on the repertoire and the "etiquette" and custom-make the kind of session you enjoy. In both the sessions I started, I chose an open pub session, mainly tunes witha few songs, because I would not have the patience to run a song club and be polite about all the performers whatever their standard. A session is, for me, a manageable project, as the kind I enjoy most needs only the lightest touch of organisation. Other people with different skills and interests run various other sessions and clubs (in ny local town there's also a song club, an unaccompanied singing sesssion, and an Irish session), but none of them just evolves out of nothing - they're all set up and run by dedicated volunteers who want to promote the music in their own way.

So there's one solution to some of the grievances above - if the ways of a particular club or session upset or annoy you, go and start a new one and run it the way you want.

Marje