the point is that if efdss are not running festivals they are missing business oppurtunities.

No Dick they are not missing business opportunities.

The are not risking their members´ money - an entirely different thing. You seem to think there a fortune to be made in running festivals. Trust me on this one Dick, there isn´t. And virtually every festival in the UK is at risk from the weather.

I have been to festivals where the EFDSS has had a stall, and I am sure there are others where the work of the society is promoted.

The situation as has been patiently explained to you over and over again is that in Ireland traditional music has respect and compartively speaking, massive funding. Here it doesn´t. Neither of us may like that, but we have to work from where we are, and not from where we would like to be.

And I certainly wouldn´t like my remarks about professional v. non-professional festival organisers to be seen as a criticism of non-professional organisers, many of whom I count as my friends and for whom I have the greatest respect.