Ruth,the difference between comhaltas and efdss,is that comhaltas quite clearly states what it is about,the preservation of Irish traditional music,it however on occasions has welcomed international dancers.
I am sorry, but the song side of efdss is international,therefore its main role is preserving and encouraging english folk dance and international folk song.
ONCE an organisation accepts grants [taxpayers money equals efdss sport grant]its not just up to the membership [taxpayers in theory or government should be entitled to a say].,although in practice it will probably be decided by the membership.
however I agree its not up to me as im not an efdss member or an english taxpayer.
if there is plenty of funding around for the organisations who wish to engage in this area,efdss members should be consulted on this matter and allowed to vote on it, that is only fair and democratic,.
creating these oppurtunities should be one of their aims, otherwise they should change their name, they are the english folk dance and folk song society,folk song being not exclusively English.
   just because I am not a member does not prevent me from having opinions,and it is my opinion that encouraging multi cultural folk song and obtaining grants AND INCREASING MEMBERSHIP[to others of different nationalities. is just as relevant as letting the society hire the house to ballroom dancers[IN FACT ITS MORE RELEVANT]because it is a folk related event.
efdss clearly needs[if it has to rely on unpaid volunteers]to get money from wherever it can,if the efdss membership reject oppurtunities like these,they deserve to go to the wall, that is my opinion, it is also my opinion that these oppurtunities should have been seized years ago ,but theN the society was definitely dance orientated
now with people like john adams and peta webb assisting the society[and well done to both of them for their unpaid work ],I hope my ideas might be given more seroius consideration.