Ron, I'm a Brit and reckon you have a point. The decline of the folk club is down to a number of issues: an aging audience, a certain unfashionability, infighting by cliques about what is and isn't folk music, distance between enthusiasts, rising fuel costs and so on. The same decline isn't seen at festivals where the most uncompromising music will gain an audience and there's always a youthful contingent. Groups like Mawkin Causley and Bellowhead (best national radio live act three years running) as well as Rachel Unthank's crossover into the mainstream show there's an audience for folk however you define it, but most club gates are insufficient to book performers outside their locale.

Even a sucker for lost causes like myself sees the writing on the wall for clubs as we know them. There may be a club opning nearby soon in which case I'll give it a go, with a healthy dose of realism about how it'll turn out.