Jim Carroll

I find the suggestion that the only standard required to perform publicly is the desire to do so totally crass; be it from you or the Lewes committee.

Really? We find it fundamental to what we do. If you weren't so out of touch with what's happening in the UK, you might realise that we are a well respected club that does a lot to promote traditional music. We love folk music (and I think you would find our definition not far from yours) but we also love people. I get the impression that some of the negative views on this thread come from people who don't like people very much.

I'm sorry Jim but the woman who plagued you at The Singers Club forty years ago doesn't come to the Arms so we can't use her as a basis for our policy. We can't suppress the many who may have much to contribute for fear of the occasional bad egg.

Neither do we have Silas's song murderer. I think that that experience vindicates our attitude; if you make it clear that everyone is going to get their turn then you keep the pushy types under control.

We have heard a great deal about what being allowed to perform in public has done for the individual, no matter what stage has been reached, and precious little on what it has done for the audience/fellow performers/music - "me, me, me".

No, Jim. "Us, us, us". Every floor singer is a member of the audience. Every member of the audience is a potential floor singer. Every booked guest was once a floor singer.