Sooz - that second night out wasn't at the dire Cardigan Bay Folk Club was it?
I was delighted to find that there seemed to be a regular folk club near me, and when some friends (also singers) came to stay we made an evening of it.
What a mistake!
It was like no folk club I've ever experienced before. The two organisers had a PA set up, and proceeded to churn out blue-grass (played very well, it has to be said) for an hour before inviting a friend up from the floor. The audience seemed to be recruited from the local old folks' home, and all sat there without a sound as the amplified guitars reverberated around the room.
When one of our group asked during a break in hostilities if there would be any chance of a spot for visiting floor singers, the organiser evasively said: "You know this is a performance venue - I don't know that unaccompanied singing would go down well."
Our friend asked again and was grudgingly told that we could each sing a song at the end of the evening - which duly happened (with the organiser pointedly ignoring us) before we were hustled off and the evening closed.
So that was our first and last visit to what we all agreed had to be the rudest, most unwelcoming folk club it had ever been our misfortune to visit.