Blame? How can you blame people for doing something that's not wrong? The singers in the Irish session did not go against the ethos of the session, it says Irish music in the program and not Irish tunes (only). Steve and Trish were there to keep things in order and if they had thought there was too much singing I'm sure they would have done something about it.

I'm not sure why there isn't more room for song sessions at Chippenham but it was pretty clear to me that few people wanted to carry on into the afternoon at the Rose and Crown. When I ran the Rose and Crown session with Tom Gilmour it was a mixed tune and song session and we carried on quite late and often ran an unprogrammed evening session before the pre-Legends crowd became too much to cope with. After that,in the evenings, we teamed up with Malc Gurnham, Pat, Rosie Daisley and others in the front bar of the Angel where there was room for mix of ballads and choruses,accompanied and unaccompanied. There was usually a quieter session in the back bar of the Angel and Tony and Pearl had their singarounds in the Bear. I believe stuff was also happening in two pubs further up the old London Road.

I know a few pubs have changed around but the Gladstone (formerly the Borough, the home of the Irish music session) and the Bar Reva apparently were interested in hosting stuff for folkies. I think the Little George was open again this year. The tune players always seem to find room, there were three simultaneous sessions at the Old Road Tavern and tunes at the New Inn, so I wonder if it's really a lack of
effort or organisation on the part of the singers these days.