Jim C- am not aware that this thread is for talking about 'what constitutes 'folk'?-At least that's not what the originator, Les said a while back. I'm afraid you're on your own there as you seem to know what it is- all I did was to try in a general sense to summarise 'why I (PERSOALLY) really enjoyed that folk club' while giving examples.
The nature of the Singers' club is well known and in my dictionary, 'prescriptive' says...'having a pre-defined set of rules or precedents' which seems to be a fair description, and is not the insult you have inferred from the word. I have no wish to discuss that with you, nor to justify what material I perform as 'folk'- it's YOU who makes these distinctions and definitions, not me!

I don't think I've met you, and no doubt we'd disagree over a pint if we did- hope so anyway. You have had apparently plenty of contact with source singers, but so have I over the years and never found any of them make any attempt to categorise songs as folk or pop, not until analysed and guided by less sympathetic collectors anyway.

So let's have a bit less sensitivity and intolerance and a little more reaching out to the people whose music it is after all.
Come up to Drumkeeran for OUR singers's sessions and we can continue this- there'll be pint waiting.. Jim B