We didn't book Bert Jansch. We didn't book Michael Chapman even though he lived in the area at the time.

Instead we booked Christy Moore, Na Fili, High Level Ranters, Joe Heaney, Eddie and Finbar Fury, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, Cyril Tawney, Louis Killen, Yetties, the Watersons appeared on a regular basis, Young Tradition. Anne Briggs made rare appearances there. We had the Grehan Sisters, Ewan and Peggy, Maggie Barry, Stewarts of Blair, John Foreman, Redd Sullivan, Nigel Denver, Teeside Fettlers, Croppy Lads, and we had some of them more than once. Especially Christy Moore. Hedy West, Fred Jordan, Barry Dransfield, Robin and Barry Dransfield when they became a duo. We had Aly Bain and Mike Whellans, The Elliots of Birtley, the Elliots of Barnsley and Rambling Jack Elliott. We had Mike Harding, Tony Capstick and we had Matt McGinn. We had Roy Harris and we had John Kirkpatrick, Martin Carthy and Dave Swarbrick and Dick Gaughan.

And those are the ones I remember.

Clearly from that list of artists you can see we had a really narrow-minded booking policy.   

The club had a reputation world-wide and visiting singers always got a welcome and a spot - had we one to spare.

I am sure we would have apologised for not booking Bert Jansch at the time had we known he was going to be so awesome.

What a shame he couldn't put on a proper performance sufficiently long enough for us to have made a more considered judgement at the time. But that was his call not ours.

The difference between you and me in this debate WLD is that I was there.