I used to go very regularly to a singaround club which had an interesting mix of singers and musicians of varying abilities and was very encouraging etc

In the process of being all inclusive and encouraging it unfortunately included and encouraged most of the people who struggled to get to sing regularly at other places. The more accomplished left as other opportunities arose and so the standard of the remaining people stayed at a level - supplemented by others in need of inclusion and encouragement.

The nett effect is that it is not the force it was. It is something else that fulfils the needs of the people that go but offers very little to new people coming in from outside and so they rarely come back. From the moment it stopped growing and looking to raise its standards it started dying.

and its very very difficult to revive somewhere like that when it is on that road. Much easier to go somewhere else or start something new.