Diane Easby
The working conditions are shit and the pay abominable. This is no way to treat the carriers of our national heritage. Entrance fee on the door should be £10 minimum, And that door should lead to premises fit to work in.

I'm not sure that I see the professional folk performers as the main carriers of the folk tradition; it had, after all, gone on for hundreds of years without them. I think the real strength lies in the hundreds (thousands?) of people who sing and play and dance for the love of it, the many folk club organisers who put in hours of unpaid work (and quite often their own money), and the armies of volunteers who run the festivals in return for a season ticket that they can't get full value from because they are working so hard. I know of one festival organiser who has risked personal bankruptcy because of the time away from running his business.
The professionals have chosen to do what they love to make a living (and who doesn't envy them that?) but they knew what they were getting themselves into and that it wasn't going to make them rich. With us, all fees, door charges and accommodation arrangements are negotiated before any contracts are signed.

concertina ceol
Brian, I've been trying to do the maths today

High P... I'm glad you enjoyed the day. I'd just like to point out to our listeners that I did not do a floorspot on Saturday. Obviously, I can't discuss our contractual arrangements with our guests in public but perhaps we can have a private word sometime. I think you might benefit from coming to some of our less high profile evenings, local rather than national guest and singaround.

Breton Cap
We are a bit more civilised than a mattress on the floor.

I sometimes wonder if the success of the LAFC is entirely due to Valmai's cooking.

Cap'n wrote,
"some of the contributors to this thread already run folk clubs,those that dont,might be well advised to stop talking about it, but go out and run one in a better fashion."
I've never written a book or made a film; does that mean I can't discuss books and films? Bugger - I used to love doing that!
Jim Carroll

For once, I agree with Jim. I think folk club organisers welcome all constructive feedback. It will get more notice if it is put politely.