if young people only want to go to folk clubs that have people of a certain age,their own, that shows that primarily they want to be in the company of their own age group, I dont accept that all young people are concerned about primarily mixing with their own age group., it may be a factor, but it is not always more important than the music
here is one way that folk clubs can increase audiences regardless of age, keep a data base of all visitors ,exchange info with other club organisers, organise a club swap with one of the clubs mentioned that has a predominantly young audience, that is one way to break down age barriers, each club has to make the different age group welcome.
    Vic, has just given his subjective opinion about a performer he thinks is talented, undoubtedly he is, but he cannot expect another organiser to have exactly the same booking policy as him, here is an example I have been booked 25 times in fifty years at Stockton folk club, 10 times in 35 years at Faversham folk club, 3 OR 4 TIMES AT LEWES SATURDAY CLUB and once at Vic Smiths old Lewes club, would it be correct for the other organisers to suggest to Vic that he should be booking me more often, in my opinion it would not., because the organiser is the one who carries the financial burden , he therefore has the right to make his own decisions based on his knowledge of his audiences preferences it is unfortunately not just about talent.
Vic if you bring up an issue and make this statement," All true, but we must not run away with the idea that it is the only route to performing success. I have seen great performers in the five countries that I have been in this year and many of them will not even have heard of folk clubs." you must expect it to be answered.
I will continue to point out that your comment is weak, because we do not know whether there would have been more great performers if there was a folk club floor spot system in those countries.