however if there were this great groundswell of support - where has it evaporated?

There is an assumption there that it has. Frankly it hasn't.

When there was this great groundswell of support there were about four festivals to go to nationwide. There are now about 300.

There were very few instrumental sessions. There were few ceilidhs and there were few record labels.

The posh Italian melodeon makers together probably import as many melodeons in a week now as they used to do in five years; concertinas were around £20.00 for an expensive one and few people played expensive guitars.

More people participate in, go to and play folk music than ever.