Just to clarify my position.

What particularly annoys me is that this type of event spits in the face of those of us who are fighting not only the negative stereotyping of folk music but, more importantly, the negative stereotyping of the mature generation – yet people happily go along with it!

As someone who is rapidly approaching my 62nd year, I work for an organisation that is active in the promotion of the rights, image and integration of older people. I spend much of my time battling against the idea that older people are out of touch, over the hill and objects of derision. We don't want to be sidelined and isolated – we want to be included in the activities that are enjoyed by younger people. Therefore, I will continue to actively oppose events that exclude youngsters and, therefore, also exclude those adults who have children and are not prepared to leave them behind, because they are actively promoting age segregation. It is blatant age discrimination. It is reinforcing age barriers. It is against everything that I, and many other older people, are fighting to banish from our society.

So, if you support this type of event, don't ever complain about ageism or about negative stereotypes of folk music as the domain of 'old gits' portrayed in the press. You have only yourselves to blame!