The following to West Dorset District Council from Molly Barratt.

Dear Mr Hickman

Having been involved in "traditional" music for the last 37 years, you can imagine that it comes as something of a shock to realise that the vast majority of that involvement has been totally illegal. Yes, I realise that being smuggled into a country pub at the age of 13 when I pestered my parents to take me along to hear the singing was not strictly within the law, but my mother assures me that the local bobby was usually there anyway...

Since then I have learned such skill as I have in singing from venerated "old boys" on the Suffolk coast, grand Scottish women in all sorts of odd venues at folk festivals and from half-cut roustabouts and Irish ex-patriots who have stepped in from the public bar and shyly sung in quiet corner-pub sessions that I have run.

I have seen at least one youngster catch the creative spark in the back room of a pub before falling asleep (full of cola and crisps) on the bench. Two years on he was playing his dad's melodeon, and in his twenties became a fully professional performer with a love and knowledge of the tradition that can only be caught, not taught. I have had the astonishing compliment of hearing a young woman come back home from college and sing in public for the first time - and sounding exactly like me!

I have worked for a while as a reminiscence/ craft worker in local authority run residential homes, and had the unique honour of being able to partake in what was clearly a very meaningful encounter with a withdrawn, elderly man. I took along a harmonica. "I used to play one of those" were the first words he said to me, after months of silence. "No", it wasn't the only instrument he played. "No", he didn't play alone. One word at a time he gave the information that there had been a whole community of players of different instruments - melodeon, dulcimer, fiddle... the next week he wasn't there.

Before I went home I asked the manager how W...... was. Not good. Yes, I could go and visit him in his room, so I did. Not knowing the man, I did the only thing I could be certain to evoke a memory, hoping it would be a good one. I started singing "The Farmer's Boy". He joined in every chorus, or at least his lips moved in time to the words. During the following week he died. It felt important that someone was around who knew the kind of music that said something to him.

I am eternally thankful that I grew up when I did, at a time when the licensing authorities by and large took a more pragmatic view of such things and provided people's health and safety was not at risk chose not to enforce what has always been a very odd piece of legislation. If they had not taken that attitude, we would be living in a cultural desert as far as the "tradition" goes.

I realise that West Dorset council is well aware of these anomalies. What I would like to know is this: is the council willing to engage in a positive effort to help to reform the proposed reforms so that we can end up with a truly deregulatory piece of legislation which does not cause problems for people's health and safety, nor their freedom of expression, nor nuisance, nor burdensome responsibilities for either local authorities or the police?

I do not know what form this effort might take, indeed, you probably have a much better idea of that than I, but what I do feel is that something needs to be done, but that the proposed legislation will create even more difficulties all round in this respect than the current law does.

Sincerely

Molly Barrett