Ian, I support your efforts wholeheartedly, but let me tell you why I, folk-dancer that I am, won't be coming. My dancing these days is limited to the regular session held above a pub twice a month, plus a few Saturday-evening dances. The regular group is only about a dozen, and frequently we dance 3-couple dances all evening because there are only 6 or 7 of us (on one memorable (!) occasion, it was Parson's Farewell and Hey Boys, Up Go We all evening because we were only 4). And I, who shall not see 50 again, am the youngest of the group, by a long way. Old-age, arthritis, and sheer lack of numbers is why Spire Folk Dance Club won't be putting in an appearance. And my experiences at the Saturday-evening dances suggest that Spire is not unique nor even unusual.

I see a few young people at music sessions, but almost none at dances. It grieves me to say it, but maybe Gargoyle is right.