I used to make a useful supplemental wage as a musician, often playing pubs where conditions ranged from the fairly good to the downright appalling. I've been there, done it etc.

Two things occur to me on reading this thread.
Firstly that the English folk club scene is probably doomed. The sort of piddling sums of money that people seem to be prepared to pay to watch quality entertainment is derisory in some cases. You, and you know who you are, value the experience at less than the price of a pint, two hour's parking in any town centre, a video rental, a Chinese takeaway and so on. It's time to wake up to the fact that we're in 2007 and not 1807 and, as is said in Yorkshire "tha nivver gets owt for nowt". I reckon that many folk club members have little or no perception of the costs involved in being a travelling musician. So my advice would be, be be prepared to dig deeper in your pockets and recognise the superb talent that is out there, otherwise you may find that the 'scene' that you value so little will disappear.

Did I say two things? I've forgotten what the second one was.

By the way I do recognise that there are organisers out there who are doing a splendid job at grass roots level.