"We do occasionally run workshops, but that doesn't necessarily mean that those who need them most will attend...

Barbara "

And Barbera has hit the nail on the head!

Some of may have come over as being unwelcoming to new talent - this is far from the case, most of us welcome newcomers and are happy to encourage and help beginners. However, it is not unreasonable for us to expect them to have done a little homework before attempting to play and sing in public, and nearly all of them do and good for them.

Some, however, will, after two years or more, still be at the abysmal standard they were when they started - making no effort to improve, learn the words, sing in tune, practice the music and are arrogant enough to think we actually enjoy listening to this shite week after week. We don't, and despite efforts to diplomatically offer advice and assistance, it ends up with a bad feeling in the room (to which the 'artist' is quite oblivious in most cases) and people thinking that if this is what we can expect from this club, there is not much point in coming - we have lost many a good performer because of this.

Another thing that gets on my tits is treating it as an acoustic club when it is a folk club. Do we want to hear sixties pop songs all night? Not me, I can live with the occasional one or two, it can be a bit of a laugh playing 'Honky Tonk Woman' towards the end of a good evening, but I don't want to be hearing Beatles songs all bloody night.