Thanks for those comments Alan. I've passed them on to National Council.

If I lived in London I would have taken on the House as a project instead of the web. By now it would have piped folk music and would smell of coffee and would be the place that somebody from the north meeting somebody from the south would quite naturally nominate as a meeting place. One of the problems is that the people who do use the House have a bit of an affection for it and this makes them blind to its deficiencies. Those of us who meet in places like Manchester's Cornerhouse are used to better things.

Having said that, I note that my email this morning contains several confirmations for online sales, mostly from teachers, and I know that the staff will pull those items off the shelf and they'll be in tonights post.

Also, yesterday's emails contained confirmation that the new English tune book compiled by Barry Callaghan with the help of the Tradtunes discussion list is proofed and now on its way to the printers for release in the Spring.

There are two more English tunebooks being reissued next year and the new book of Travellers Songs is starting to sell.

So despite the tatty building there's still activity in the engine room and it does benefit the nation (and beyond) rather than just North London.


Johnny Adams