Hi Howard,

The British Mountaineering Council is an interesting comparison. They obviously have a large membership base with subscriptions totalling well over £1 million last year. Add into that the quarter million pound grant from the Sports Council and you can see why they operate with a surplus each year and presently have £2 million cash in hand. Well supported and well managed - to the extent that they can get on with the work of the council.


I think the EFDSS should aim towards being in a similar position so that it could get on with the work of becoming the lead body for the country's folk arts, but it's a bit of a chicken and egg situation really. You want to see results before you join, and the income from the present membership is not, on its own, enough to finance achieving all those results. True, ACE funding has arrived but it was only announced in the Spring and who knows if it's actually arrived yet. If it has arrived, it will have a number of outcomes attached and we have yet to see if those outcomes match yours and my expectations of what the society should be doing. I hope they will.

But... who knows where the ACE cuts will strike in the next round. Will folk music stand a good chance of not being in the firing line? I'd recommend that the society puts a hard hat on :-) or at least be careful not to over reach, just in case.

It appears to me that the steps the society are taking are steady and confident ones and are in the areas of education and library web resources, two areas that have featured ad nauseum in Mudcat posts over the years. Given that they have made these strides I am feeling more and more that they are getting enough strength to deliver on other fronts but it won't happen overnight with the wave of a magic wand.

I also think that the society has a little way to go before it sets itself up as some sort of expert consultancy. Most of the knowledge and expertise on the folk scene exists outside the society and the main way that the EFDSS can assist people is via networking. I'm assuming and hoping that this will come as part of the adoption of the roles of Folk Arts England but again, not overnight and not without some support, particularly from people like you and me. It's heartening to see the young folkies joining up and getting involved.

I think the society is at a pivotal point right now and has the best chance to prove its worth than it has had for a long time. I'm praying it doesn't cock it up and so far the signs are good. If a bunch of people lend some support now by joining, buying stuff, supporting wherever possible then ultimately we'll all get something out of it, even those of us four hours drive north of the Camden Town Folk Arts Centre.

These days I'm not at the centre of EFDSS business, being more on the edge looking in, so I've probably not dealt with all of the points you've raised in this thread but right now I'm quite busy on archive work and can't spare too much time to think it all through.