Norm and Liz were immigrants to Montreal from the UK in the mid 1960s. Neither performed but they brought a love of folk music performance to Montreal.

In Dec 1965 they created The Montréal Folk Workshop in rented room on Park Ave called Moose Hall. They paid the Moose Lodge a $10 nominal rental for each Wednesday's show. Moose Lodge made decent revenue from beer sales with audiences ranging from 40 to 100 depending on the drawing power of the featured act. The featured act delivered two half hour sets at 9PM and 11PM. The rest of the evening was filled with a half a dozen or more open mic performers who were allocated a three song time slot.

On opening night in 1965, Dave Van Ronk dropped by for a set. In January 1966, the Mountain City Four collective returned from a sabbatical for the first of several performances ending in 1970. The McGarrigle sisters emerged from this collective a few years later. Mike Seeger performed once and Richie Havens broke attendance records in 1968 with 130 in the audience. Jean Carignan's shows also racked up overflow houses.

Work opportunities forced Norm and Liz Doyle to move to San Francisco (I think) in late 1966 but the Folk Workshop continued under various managers and venues until 1973.

I'd love to hear from anyone with memories of the MFW but my main purpose is to learn if anyone knows of the musical endeavors of Norm and Liz either before or after their time in Montreal. They made a real mark on the Montreal folk scene by providing a more relaxed, beer facilitated club open to more diverse folk styles than the coffee houses of that era. And they planted the first seeds of the open mic concept in Montreal