Going slightly off topic for a minute, the article about the history behind the ballad "Mill O'Tifty's Annie" in the hot-off-the-press latest edition of the Folk Music Journal is really fascinating stuff and I'd urge people to give it a read.

I'm very pleased that my subscription includes a copy of this publication. My view is that FMJ and other publications, the library/archives, an ongoing digitisation programme and some outreach/education work - especially linking songs, dances and folklore to regional/local history - should be core to the organisation's work. I understand that organising gigs and renting out rooms in C#H is another revenue stream, but as Les and others have said, its not like there's such a lack of grassroots activity, festivals, clubs, singarounds, sessions etc that EFDSS needs to step in and put things right - even if it could. And the experience of Ryedale 3 Step, Yorkshire Garland and similar groups show that local/regional initiatives can happen anyway, if there are committed and inspired individuals willing and able to organise them - no-one needs to wait for EFDSS to start organising regional groups for this sort of thing to happen.