"The Society has been getting it wrong for an awful long time now but at least it is still doing a fair bit of good work - or is it?"

Who knows?

From where I'm sitting typing this, on the edge of the Peak District south of Manchester the EFDSS is utterly irrelevant. We have a good local session scene and some excellent musicians, and many here are out there doing what the EFDSS is there to encourage and represent.

I love the idea of an archive the like of which exists in CSH, and which is of national importance. However, in real terms the continuation of the tradition is happening on the ground out in the provinces, the cities, towns, shires and hundreds and the existence of a society in London which is expensive to visit for those of us outside the M25 doesn't really matter in real terms.

Is there a branch in Manchester?