"Surely the function of a club - if it has a function - is to please the committee and mebers."
That's the problem. Once the committee is pandering to the old guard in the membership the club becomes inward looking and unwelcoming and decline is inevitable.

A significant proportion of clubs run by people who came into folk music in the 60s are in this condition. Younger people and those new to the scene start or go to new events and don't participate in the information exchange circuits of the classic folk scene such as local magazines (or Mudcat).