I'll state without reservation that we welcome visiting musicians and singers to Clare.

However, most of us who play regularly in sessions here would prefer visiting musicians to play melody instruments. Fiddlers, flute players, pipers, concertina players, accordionists, harpers, etc. are more than welcome, as is anybody who can play a tune with the rest of us on an instrument I might have omitted.

The thing is we've already got our own homegrown cohorts of strummers and percussionists, some of whom are very good indeed, so we don't really need any more (though, if you're good enough, we'll happily extend the invitation).

More than a bunch of us are less keen on singers. We're happy to take a break from the tunes for the occasional song, but not to have our night out dominated by vocals.