I think most people in the clubs/sessions I go to work for a living (or have worked - there's a growing number of retired people now). I also notice that there's a high proportion of well educated people - people from professsions or from a university background. But it's not exclusively educated middle-class - I can think of one farmer and one gardener who are regulars at sessions.

So why this imbalance? No one decides that you need a degree to run or attend a folk club - the participants are entirely self-selecting, and make every effort to include and welcome anyone who wants to join. And money can't be an issue - playing at a session is free, and attending a folk club is a cheap night out by any standards. Folk music is cheap hobby.

If some social groups are under-represented, that's their choice. The social mix of people who play golf, or go to bingo, or join a choir, or go to the dog-racing, will not be a cross-section of society either.

Why shouldn't well educated people enjoy folk music? The tunes and songs of our forebears belong to us all. Even if we now work in a bank or a school or a hospital, we probably have ancestors who worked on the land and in the factories, who built the railways, or who fought against Napoleon.

Sure, it's the people's music, and we are the people!

Marje