"lumping them all in under the term 'folk club' is a bit misleading"

First prize to Chris for the understatement of 2008!

Half the people responding to the OP are applying Singaround Club ethics to Concert Club standards.

There is a half-way house - the Guest Club, and the club movement was built on it - but it only works it the organisers are willing to be tactful but firm.

Luckily there are hundreds of unsung heroes out there who run the gauntlet week after week to maintain that delicate balance.

The rest are happy further to sit further out towards one end of the seesaw or the other.

But I think that across the UK there does seem to be long term trend developing. The balance seems to be tipping towards the 'participation ethos' side (with it's downside of ghettoisation), which must impact on the 'application of standards' side (with it's downside of exclusion).

If so, then 'Guest Clubs,' if not Singaround Clubs or Concert Clubs, are indeed dying. And if they die, then maybe the other two will eventually ossify too (I explain why in my forthcoming, lengthy article in Living Tradition)

There may be life in the old dog, but only as long as the old dog lives.

Meanwhile - how about we all try to move half-way towards the other guy's position for once, and see if we can come up with some practical suggestions?

Tom