I didn't know that I was going to kick up such a storm.

One last comment from me- there is a difference between people who get up to sing and are not very good but try their best and those who can't be bothered.

If you think that you can sing in tune and yet can't hold a tune in a wheelbarrow, you need someone to take you aside, have a quiet word with you, and then guidance and encouragement to improve. I have a reasonably high tolerance level of people like this.

If you forget your words in the second, fourth and sixth verses because you can't be arsed to learn them, you KNOW that you've done badly. It's people who sing like this and don't seem to care than **** me off. And I still can't see what satisfaction they get from it.

A folk club organiser said to me the other day: "Ah but old Jim's been coming here since we started. He always gets lost in the third verse of "Fathom the Bowl" but he's one of our main supporters so we have to give him his turn. And Amy's been bringing her tin whistle here for the last three years; when she started we couldn't make out what tune she was trying to play, but now we can, quite often, so we always let her go on."

Jim and Amy (all names have been changed, as has the song and instrument) were also the nicest of people, so I can see the club's dilemma. I don't know what the answer is.