Thank you for your thoughtful comments Jim. I've never seen Willie McPhee. I know Sheila Stewart though. I've seen her perform on a number of occasions. I'm not sure if she'd know my name but she would know my face as I was in her Conyach masterclass last year up in Edinburgh and also sang part of a song to her. She's a lady that I admire greatly.    Yes, there is a danger that some stories can sound twee. That's why I deliberately avoid telling stories with imps, elves and fairies in them to an adult audience - though it never seemed to do J R R Tolkein any harm...

My repertoire will become more adult in tone as I develop both my skills and my repertoire. In the meantime I am open to suggestions for finding/developing any stories for a themed evening or that will support another performer's work at one of the clubs. Storytellers quite often work in conjunction with both singers and musicians at events.

I am not blaming the clubs; the club organisers are very supportive of me. But private inviduals can be very damaging to what happens in a club.

I always loved folk tales alongside folk songs. I assumed that everybody else in a folk club would have that same connection. I assumed wrongly.

It may well be time to finish this thread as I don't see that it will progress contructively much further.   I have more workshops booked and will plod away at it.

Thank you all for your comments.