Ruth Archer, quite rightly, says, " The thing that is bloody hilarious about this thread is how many other mudcat discussions are devoted to the white-knuckled fear of the tradition dying out - why?

Fear, cold, deep down fear. Letting go, passing the flame. To be honest with you it's all abit embarrassing, I mean I'm now the same age as Sandy Denny would have been had she lived (you do the maths)and some my fellow musicians of a certain age are totally and completely paranoid that the music will die without them.

To be honest again, I've met and played with some of the younger musicians whom I am totally in awe of and have learned some great bowing and fingering technique from (fiddle and mandolin) Heck, I might, in my early old age take up the melodeon (still thinking about that one). :-D