The Fleetwood Folk Club caters for all types of acoustic music,

I might add that although I run the FFC myspace page, I didn't write that bit of blurb which comes from an earlier, now defunct, web-page. This covers & celebrates on-going club policy which is further reflected in the repertoires of the residents and regulars which is widely (60%?!) idiomatic Folk though rarely purely traditional. Many of the regulars are skilled songwriters too - Ron Baxter, Nicky Snell & Ivan McKeown, to name but three - writing in a variety of idioms each of which could be called Folk. Ron's songs are regularly set & performed by other regulars & residents and yet further afield; Ivan's songs likewise, joining the ranks of innumerable Folk Song Writers whose work has been taken up by the folk community. Whilst not a resident nor a regular at the folk club himself, the canny song writing of Alan Bell is very much in evidence & provides both an inspiration and a bench mark of the standards people aim for which is in any case pretty high. I've recently had the pleasure of engineering a session for Nicky Snell, and I regard Ron Baxter as a crucial collaborator & musical colleague, as well as a very dear friend.

As CS says, however, none of this is Traditional Song, which is not a value judgement, but a statement of fact & a reflection on the current state of play in the folk clubs and perhaps the revival in general. It is this reality that gave rise to the OP of the 1954 and All That thread which seeks, on my part, to accommodate the breadth of music one finds in folk clubs these days and an attempt to understand how that might be Folk Music. That I failed in this appreciation is by the by; I have my limits & my passions, as do we all, but I would never question the right of ANYONE to perform ANYTHING in the name of FOLK - just as long as we're all be clear about what is, and what is not, a Traditional Folk Song.

One of the FFC regulars is the brother of a celebrated opera singer. The other week said Celebrated Opera Singer paid a visit. Though he didn't sing on that occasion, next time, so I'm told, he just might...