Thank you Pip - that's what I have been saying all along.
If Bryan's club doesn't have occasion to apply the policy that everyone can sing of course it's not going to affect the club adversely - he have said time and again that he doesn't get bad singers turning up asking to sing, but he is prepared to advocate bad practice for other clubs. The discussion was not, as I said at the time, about his club, but a general one. I believe that it is what is being argued for here on this thread and fits in perfectly with the age-old "near enough for folk song" argument".
I certainly am not wriggling Bryan, it is you who is hiding behind this to avoid answering my questions.
jim Carroll