John Adams,
Whenever criticism of EFDSS (or any public organisation for that matter) is made, the knee-jerk reaction is, more often than not, 'become a member and help change things'. We did, and things remained the same!
Our period of membership was an extremely educational one for us; the main thing we got out of it was the knowledge that what went on within the hallowed portals of C# House had little, if anything to do with traditional song and music as we knew it. We might as well have been speaking Mandarin Chinese for all the communication there was between us and the officials and activists with whom we had discussions.
A highlight of our learning curve was the night we were requested to organise a singing evening in the basement as part of the A.G.M. knees-up. After a while it became obvious that the situation was that there we were doing our thing in the basement (we were part of the West London Tradition Club at the time) and there were them upstairs doing their thing – and ne'er the twain shall meet! During the evening we were asked to provide a singer to entertain the suits and long frocks in the large hall while they got their breath back – so we sent up our guest, West Clare farmer and fisherman, Micho Russell, a very fine traditional musician and a singer. From the bemused response, he may as well have just stepped out of a space-ship: I think we had encountered what Captain Janeway refers to as a 'parallel universe'.
After a while we left EFDSS, having come to the conclusion that what was being promoted had nothing to do with the music we considered 'folk' or 'traditional' – no acrimony, no pique, just a decision on our part to move on.
We continued to work with the library; I did some work on the BBC collection, we gave a couple of library lectures and helped put on an event which involved field musicians and a singer we knew. We were proud to have helped produce three cassettes of field recordings for the Library. During this period of non-membership we were probably more active than the average member.
One telling incident was when we wrote an article on a Traveller storyteller for Dance and Song and offered to follow it up with three more based on singers and musicians we had recorded. We thought we had made a half-decent job of this until, with one flourish of the illustrator's pen adding a couple of twee drawings, our article was turned into something more suitable for Hamley's Toyshop than for an organisation seriously claiming to be promoting the traditional arts. We were given no say in the matter, so we abandoned any further projects.
The crunch came for us with the proposed sale of C# House fiasco which convinced us that the 'Over My Dead Body' school of thought was firmly in control and would remain so for the foreseeable future. We have no reason to believe that things have changed significantly since those balmy days (except then we could get a cup of coffee and a sandwich at C# House.
You ask the Cap'n what he expects of the Society; I assume this to be a rhetorical question. Perhaps the first thing it should be doing is to ask whether it does exactly what it says on the tin! Is it acting as a body bearing the title THE ENGLISH FOLK DANCE AND SONG SOCIETY? Is it living up to the legacy left by its founders? I often think that, despite the problems of their having been pioneers in the field, Sharp, Broadwood, Kidson, Grainger and Vaughan Williams had a clearer picture of what was meant by FOLK and TRADITION than we do now. I have to confess that a shudder ran down my spine when I read the suggestion that ballroom dancing be included in EFDSS activities!
It has become obvious to me that traditional song and music in the UK (in England at least) has reached a crossroads and that its future depends very much on what we all do now. The Society should not just be part of any discussion on the future of traditional music, it should be leading it.
As far as I am concerned, it is fitting that a national body like EFDSS should have a presentable and functional headquarters; I have no problem with their being sited in London, though I do believe that they have to be relevant and accessible to all members, whether they live next-door at 4 Regents Park Road or at 74 Boggart Hole Clough! I question whether C# House is suitable to fulfill such a role. Of course the AGM is not going to respond positively to a bland proposal to sell the House; nor should it. What needs to happen is that a comprehensive plan has to be worked out as to where EFDSS goes from here, and if selling the House is part of the solution, that has to be considered; if not, what are the alternatives.
So the library, by far the most important of the Society's achievements, is not going to be housed in the main hall; fair enough, what actions are proposed to solve the problems that now exist? Has any thought been given to developing a comfortable, accessible and expanding sound library? On a personal note, we have now reached the stage in our lives that we need to consider what is to happen to our collection; should we decide to donate it to the Library, will it be turned away as others have? On the question of publications, in many ways, what with the Greig-Duncan, the Sam Henry and the eagerly awaited Carpenter collections, there has never been so much traditional song available to those interested – wouldn't the Grainger collection be a magnificent addition to these? As you say, all this needs finance, and the way to raise that is to build on what you have,
With respect; it is not fitting that you ask a non-member what he expects of the Society. As an official, you should know what is expected of an organisation bearing the title ENGLISH FOLK DANCE AND SONG SOCIETY. If you are satisfied that your house is in order and that the Society is fulfilling its role, it is up to you to set out your stall and attract us non members so that we cease to be such.

Comhaltas - B.A.Scouser - unfortunately they don't restrict their activities to music; they also present a form of singing that has as much to do with the tradition as their version of traditional dance does (or not - as the case may be).

Irish Traditional Music Archive - We were also at the opening of the new premises and have been supporters of the Archive for quite a few years, and we know that the grants that have been given have been got by hard work on the part of Nicholas Carolan, his staff and committee fighting every inch of the way to have Irish traditional music recognised as a serious art form - therby hangs an valuable lesson!

Jim Carroll