Fred's description fits in pretty well with what was gradually starting to happen at the time in many clubs - standards were being deliberately lowered to put more bums on seats and the 'anything goes' policies gradually introduced an air of "where did all the folk songs go?" among those who came looking for ballads and traditional songs
Fred Woods was one of those who helped instigate the 'Crap Begets Crap' series of protests about the lowering standards.
'Ewan MacColl once said that a singer should learn a new song every week"
Ewan tended to exaggerate his claims, but The Singers Club did try to instigate a policy where residents were asked not to sing the same song within a couple of months (regular requests being the accepted exceptions)
It did guarantee that you always came away hearing new songs each time
Jim Carroll