Hi Daisy

My point exactly! If clubs don't advertise to the general public using the local newspapers or local radio stations that generally have some sort of diary spot every day then it's no wonder they seem to be going out of fashion. Here in the North West we have an association called the North West Federation of Folk Clubs that has about 60 member clubs. It has a website - www.folknorthwest.co.uk - (I'm the webmaster) and it produces a quarterly magazine called Folk North West that lists all the member clubs diary dates (provided they send them in on time!)BUT unless you know about it as a member of the public there isn't much chance of finding out about it.
The Folk Directory was an excellent national publication for finding clubs and festivals- don't know if it's still published. I'll have a surf for it later.

Here are a few sites which may be helpful regarding clubs in Glasgow. There may be other clubs that come to light if you make further enquiries:

http://www.siliconglen.com/Scotland/4_7.html
http://www.albamusic.freeserve.co.uk/clubs.html
http://www.visitdunkeld.com/folk-clubs.htm
http://www.albafolk.co.uk/folkclubs/clubs.html
http://www.starfolkclub.com/history_live_music.htm

The clubs I go to have a no smoking policy which seems to be getting the norm these days. Anybody who wants a gasper goes into the main bar and has one when they get a drink. Maybe you should put your views to organisers and suggest a no smoking policy. I can't stand smoking either and was glad when they introduced no smoking at my office - much healthier now apart from when you go past the smoking area at the back door.

I had the same problem of transport when I was 16 and going to clubs. Three of us used to get a lift off one of our dad's and my dad used to come to the club later on for the last hour and bring us home. We were fortunate to be able to come to that arrangement I suppose but I see your point.

Drinking to excess and driving is something I wouldn't advocate. I drive to clubs these days and have a couple of pints but I tend to have a couple of pints of tap water as well to keep the clacker going smoothly (it costs nothing as well). This is a growing trend round the clubs - maybe it's a backlash against the ridiculous cost of soft drinks.

If you don't know the chorus, ask the person who sang the song later on to tell it to you and write it down for future reference. That's the great thing about folkies. Nobody minds you asking anything about the songs they sing. I still mumble away at some choruses that I'm not familiar with or just end up humming the tune. Trying to sing along helps the learning process though even if you just try and learn one line at a time during the course of the song. You can turn the tables by singing songs with choruses that the rest of the room doesn't know!

Finding folk CDs can be a problem as well. Independent record shops are better than the music giants but most of the time you have to get them from the artists themselves at elusive folk clubs.

Hope you manage to get to a club somewhere Daisy. Let us know if you do.

Cheers

Mark