Tone,
I can't help thinking that your event would have been far more successful taking place in somewhere more central and accessible like York itself. I'm sure Roland would have welcomed your event as part of the York Folk weekend. I'm not aware that either Sutton or Elvington have any previous for folk events or songwriting. We have run events at The Yorkshire Farming Museum at Murton just a few miles away with some success, but again there is already footfall as it's a museum.