"I'd have thought that a folk club organiser - who is definitely in some sort of business" - oh yeah, right, my profits from running folk events rival an investment bank!

"would be very keen to keep a wary eye out for any new singer to ring the changes maybe without great expense" - Well strangely, I do keep my eye out for new acts, and I pay everyone we put on - we don't do floor spots as there are plenty of singers nights locally for people (including me) who want that more informal entertainment. We do main act and booked (paid) support (we've given quite a number of people their first paid gigs).

We do tend to book acts who have pretty well developed social skills and who appear to be professional about what they do though......