the thing is Will, we had it easy - the club acts we had to watch - whether traddy or contemporary were better than the festival acts nowadays. Abd those club acts were inspirational - they gave the kids like us, something to aspire to.

No dispespect - but Mike Harding or mike Tyson playing the sounds - its hard to see the BBC doing anything over and above what it always does. but at least Harding knew abit about what constituted folk music. He came from the same club scene we did, where instrumental and performance ability was revered and seen as part of the desired creative package.

If you contrast the sounds you get out of a four string guitar with the way Seth Lakeman gives it welly. To me, its no contest. But the kids aren't getting to see guys like you.

The present club and open mic. system scene is vibrant, but it is impoverished by the lack of people of really good ability. One thing I do remember is that, in my day, guys like Taff Thomas, even though he had successful club act - ran a singers club. So did Ewan MacColl. Seasoned pro's used to turn up on singers nights and make a contribution.

Lets hope Sunjay can revive this. A lot of pro's somehow think they are being exploited if they are asked to do floorspots. I guess sometimes they are, but without their example - youngsters won't learn folksinger 101.