When I started singing in public, at singarounds, ten years ago I always used a book. It gave me a bit of courage to have the words in front of me and meant that I could concentrate on getting the tune right.

Over the years I have developed more confidence and have been able to remember the words of more songs, but I do still like having the book to hand, just in case.

So far as learning songs - I take the words with me when I take the dog for a walk and find that, over the course of 3/4 hour I can learn a short song, say up to four verses. I start with the first verse and, when I've got that one in, go on to the second verse, learn that and then sing both verses together. I'll do the same with the next two verses and then try putting the whole thing together - that works for me,but we all have different ways of learning.

Like some of the other posters I would rather see someone using a book than to have someone who gets part way through a song and then spends the next ten minutes trying to stumble through the rest of it because they can't remember the words, and that I have seen in the past year an occasion which resulted in other people not getting a chance to sing in an hour's session. Similarly, those who have a very limited repertoire and sing the same few songs week after week for many years or those who sing to the book with no feeling in their voices.

For me there is always the push to do better, to increase the range of my voice and the number of songs that I can sing, with or without the words to hand. I think, for any of us, there is always room for improvement - it just depends how much work you will or can put into the craft.