I'm looking forward to going to the session in the pub up road (there's been a session there for 30 years), playing a few tunes and enjoying the craic. People playing music because they love it, sharing tunes and singing the occasional song.

The week after I'll go to a different pub, and the week after that I'll head into Manchester for some top-notch Irish, and the week after that I may well go back to the first pub I mentioned. In the meantime I'll have some mates over and we'll have a few tunes and a beer and on it goes. I'll hear some new tunes, learn some new tunes and perhaps get to sing a song or two.

Show of Hands, the EFDSS and the whole commercial world of folk (and I do paid gigs occasionally) has bugger all to do with the tradition and the tradition will continue whether they're there or not. It's tunes and songs.