Unless this music is more widely known about, enthused about and shared about, then it may well begin to die out with the present generation.

What a strange self-obsessed comment.

Let me tell you that Cecil Sharp believed that the music was dying out. That was 1901 and he rushed around collecting folk songs to try and catch the songs before they died out.

Alfred Williams who collected and wrote "Folk Songs of the Upper Thames" wrote in 1923. Here is the quote: "The songs themselves ....are practically defunct. There is no need to revive them to do so in fact would be impossible".

When two societies merged in 1931/2 it was because it was believed there was little left to collect.

Peter Kennedy rushed around with a tape recorder because he believed these songs were disappearing.

People were collecting new material in the 1970's.

Gordon Halls' mother with an amazing repertoire was never recorded. Gordon had a repertoire of 200+ songs and he was not "discovered" until the 1970's.

I personally discovered a previously unknown singing tradition in 2001.

We still sing traditional songs in Sheffield at shepherd's meets for example.

There are dozens of young enthusiastic young people who make their own music in sessions. Sheffield (Britain's fourth largest city) hardly has a traditional style folk club in the town but there is music in two or three places virtually every night of the week.

There are two courses for folk music performance at degree level and also post-graduate stuff too.

I could go on.............

Lizzie what you should have written was:

"In the world in which I live it looks as if folk music might die without me spreading the word and people listening to me. After all I have a wide experience and a great depth of knowledge about this, despite people telling me I haven't".